


Silence is Golden (A Percy Jackson AU)

by Greenninjagal



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 20:31:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 43,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6674515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greenninjagal/pseuds/Greenninjagal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy is abused<br/>Annabeth is mute<br/>Piper is neglected<br/>Jason is overworked<br/>Hazel is bullied<br/>Frank is mourning<br/>Leo is running<br/>Nico is an outcast<br/>Thalia is an alcoholic</p><p>Secrets keep them safe. Stops others from being hurt. Silence hides the secrets. Everyday is Hell. How long can they go on? Sometimes the silence needs to be broken. But what if it's too late?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

_"Say anything, to anyone, and I will kill you."_

There was already enough wrong with these lives. Enough secrets to bury them. Enough to suffocate them under the weight of the world.

_"I'm sorry, sir, she's not coming home."_

There was already pain. Hurt. Just pile it on. Life was cruel. There was no mistaking it.

_"I won't go back, not now. Not ever."_

Lies they wore like a second skin. A facade that never let up. The screams that no one else seemed to hear in the night.

_"He's a creepy emo. I heard he pushed his own sister into the moving car...."_

They didn't know how far their whispers carried. They didn't know the dagger of pain that they threw. They didn't know how they left these tortured souls bleeding out.

_"Even if there was anyone listen, she can't talk, the stupid freak."_

They had problems. They needed to let it out. Just because they didn't say anything didn't mean they couldn't hurt.

_"IM RIGHT HERE! I'M YOUR DAUGHTER! Listen to me...please..."_

The ones who should've cared, should've saved them hurt them the worse. Family, friends, someone should've noticed. But They didn't.

_"You promised eight dollars an hour! I worked everyday last month...."_

Some people didn't realize the pain they were stacking onto others. They definitely didn't realize when the others were near breaking point.

_"Hey b*tch, where did you get your clothes? Forever 1896?"_

When did it stop? When would they receive that grand prize for being good kids? When were they saved?

_"Just a little more, to help me forget. After that I swear I'll stop...."_

Sometimes those lies hurt the worse.

The lies they said at night when they cried themselves to sleep. The lies they knew were not the truth.

Because only one thing mattered.

Keep it a secret.

Silence is Golden.


	2. Percy

The silence in the room was a calm even if the students thoughts weren't.

_What if I went to the library after the bell? No, he would just be more angry when I got back..._

The pale boy in the front row was earnestly tapping a pencil on his desk. He wore a thick sweatshirt not all that out of place. His wrist was tucked into his sleeve as if hiding something and he winced involuntarily every time he moved. His sea green eyes weren't staring at the test in front him. He had more pressing things to think about.

_Seven, fifty an hour, every day this week...that should be enough to buy dinner this weekend...right? No. Crap I'm missing my work shift, all the answers are C anyway...._

Another boy with blond hair got up from the second row his, test sheet clearly labeled C. He had dark bags under his tired sky blue eyes. He placed his test in the bin on the teachers desk before grabbing his back pack and practically running towards the door.

_The BMW didn't work. Maybe I could...what could I do? What if I robbed a bank? Would he notice?_

The prettiest girl in the school got up from her desk she stumbled into the blond boy, they barely looked at each other. The girl averted her multi colored, gorgeous eyes, placed her test in the bin and walked back to her seat. By the time she turned around the blond boy was gone.

 _What does it matter? I'm not going to be here in a week anyway. Canada this time...easy_.

The short small kid in the middle row continued his Dragon drawing on the test. He hadn't bothered doing the calculations. His curly hair bounced with his knees, reacting to satisfy his ADHD.

_When did we even learn this? I've been too busy with my clothes to pay attention....I hate math._

The girl up front stared at the numbers. She ran her fingers through her thick curly hair. She wore a nice sundress with a dash of make up. She constantly tugged at her collar as if she was incredibly uncomfortable.

_Where am I going to get my next bottle?_

The girl in the back of class. Wasn't even trying. She kicked her legs up on the desk tilting her head back her eyes half way closed. Her dark hair with blue highlights stood out in the classroom.

_I didn't do it. I swear I didn't do it..._

The palest boy in the class sat next to her, he scrawled the answer. His hand shook and he pressed down way too hard on the paper. The pencil snapped in his fingers.

_I have to get all of these right. Maybe then she'll stop calling me a freak..._

In the farthest corner, closest to the window the gray eyed, blonde was focusing so hard she had a head ache. She would circle answers and then erase it again. Finally she sighed and put her head on the desk.

_She wouldn't want me to fail this quiz. But what if I do? I miss her so much...I'm a disgrace to her memory._

A thick built boy sat behind her, but try as he might he couldn't answer the questions. One word after another, all number looked exactly like the others. He had to wipe away the tears before anyone saw.

All at once the bell rang. All of the students surged up.

"Unfinished tests go on the front desk please!" The teacher called. A pile papers filed onto the desk. Students filled out the door with excitement of the school day finally being over. Percy Jackson placed his test on the pile last. He walked out the door last.

He was careful to keep his wrist hidden in his sleeves, the bandage out of site. His chest heaved. He carefully weaved through the people keeping his distance. He found his locker easily, his backpack cutting into a bruise on his shoulder like a knife.

He pulled out his textbook from the metal compartment and closed. At that same moment, a popular girl with choppy brown hair walked down the hall. The other people shifted out of her way, smiling and chattering. Someone knocked into a blond girl in front of him. She stumbled backwards hitting Percy. They both hit the ground.

Percy gasped. He landed on his hip, which was still bruised from when he....ran into a desk. Right. A Desk.

The girl looked at him, her eyes held a quiet intelligence. She was beautiful. With honey blond curls. She looked sorry. She scooped up her books and paper, and hurried away.

All Percy knew, remembered, with a pain in his chest, is she didn't say sorry. She didn't say anything at all.

Percy picked himself up, wincing with every breath. He walked towards the open doors of the school to his bus. Over by the student parking lot a blond boy cursed loudly he kicked the side of his vehicle and laying his head in his hands.

Percy walked right by. He got onto the bus, his stomach churning. The bus driver didn't look up from his magazine. The air smelled like air freshener and metal. The loud obnoxious squeals rocketed in the air. Most of the seats were taken.

But Percy found a spot in the front across from a familiar thickly built guy. Percy sighed staring out the window, but not seeing anything. His sweatshirt slid up on his wrist the wrapping revealing a red stain. Percy hissed at the sight.

No one sat next him. He didn't look at the other passengers. The High schoolers talked almost as loud as Percy's thoughts. His mind raced to think something other than what was waiting for him at home.

To think of something other than the pain that was unavoidable as soon as he walked in the front door.

Home is a place where one feels safe. Percy snorted stepping off the yellow tank and onto the sidewalk outside his house.

Percy Jackson had no home.

He opened the front door. And faced the nightmare in front of him.

Beer bottles splinters spread the floor. The front hall had one dent in it, furnished with a brownish red splotch. The hallway into the kitchen was layered in stains and broken shards from the table and a vase. Percy toed through the glass trying not to make any sound. The stairs were just a foot away. He could escape the pain, just one night. He could skip dinner again. He'd be fine.

The stairs creaked. Percy froze.

The strangled yell nearly rocked the house.

"JACKSON!" The voice sent all of Percy's nerves on fire. He charged up the stairs. He got three steps. Something hard grabbed his backpack. The jerk nearly slit his throat. He slammed back down the stairs.

Percy yelled, he kicked. The smell of alcohol overpowered his senses. His head slammed against the step edge. Percy screamed.

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID, WORTHLESS, SH*T!" Gabe shouted. His breath smelled sour, he radiated beer and body door. His hair was slick with grease, his shirt stained with so many things it made Percy's eyes water. His face was screwed into a grotesquely snarl. Pure hatred leaked through his livid features.

He slammed Percy against the wall. His side burned with white hot pain.

"YOU'RE TWO MINUTES LATE!" Gabe screamed. He punched Percy's head back. The teenage boy knocked into the wall, an indent clearly visible in the blank slate. Stars danced like fish in the rivers, a metallic taste filled his mouth until he thought he was going to drown. Curses raged on until Percy couldn't even hear anything else.

Gabe threw him into a mirror the shards sparkled in the light from the windows. Percy couldn't help but scream. The stars turned to dark blurs. No one was there to save him. No angel of light. No superhero to beat up the bad guy. Percy choked on his own blood.

Tears flooded down his face.

Gabe kicked Percy's stomach. The wind was knocked from his lungs.

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

Percy tried to block the attacks. His sleeves rolled back, his entire arm visible, venerable. Gabe slam his head into the wooden floor, again and again.

Percy scream for him to stop.

He bit his tongue. His head was in so much pain. Everything hurt. It felt like someone was sticking a hot iron all round him. His body was black and blue, a growing gash on his skull spit out blood.

Darkness crept up on him, devouring his senses, until he couldn't find the energy to move. Gabe's ugly face came into view, his meaty hand yanked Percy's unkempt hair upwards forcing him to look into the drunk man's eyes.

Gabe hot breath stung against Percy's cheeks the darkness clawed at his vision.

"Tell anything, to anyone, and I will kill you." He hissed into Percy's ear.

Then everything went black....for the fifth time in as many days.


	3. Jason

Even as he ran through the halls, he was sweating

Jason knew he failed that test. All the answers are C, really? He was lucky it was multiple choice. The halls were empty, the class still had five minutes left. He rubbed the tiredness from his eyes.

His car was up front, he was lucky he could afford the money to buy a spot at all. Or a car. He checked his second hand watch, it's time seeming to tick faster than normal.

"I'm late. I'm late. I'm late." He chanted as if admitting it would turn back the clock. He opened the door to his car, and the sudden alarm startled him. "Goddamn it." He grabbed the keys pounding the alarm button. 

He sighed. 

The bell rang in the school building letting a swarm of people out. Jason barely recognized three of them. He threw his book bag into his passenger side seat. Then he jerkily inserted his keys switching the ignition. 

Nothing happened.

Jason froze. "What?" He asked himself. He tried again. And again. His car wasn't starting. It wasn't even flickering. Nothing. "NoNoNoNoNo...." Jason cursed. His watch flashed 2:40, he was officially screwed for work.

He got out of his car cursing. He didn't care what the others thought. They probably didn't have to worry about dinner tonight, or the rent due this week. 

Jason kicked the wheel of his car. Not enough to do any damage but enough to release his frustration.

Eight an hour. All week. All month. Dinner for this weekend. Double shifts on Sunday at the Big-N-Mart. Maybe a loan from the Bank? The late rent notification was still crumpled in his jacket pocket he could feel it as he slumped against his broken car. He had two weeks to get the money. Otherwise he and his mother were out on the street. 

"When was the last time you slept?" 

Jason wiped away his frustrated tears. Behind his car stood a neatly dressed girl. She wrote a black skirt with knee high purple socks and black converse. Her shirt was purple with the letters SPQR, from her trip to Rome last semester. She looked at him with a blank face her eyes calculating and her hair neatly braided.

Jason shook his head. "Last night."

"How long?"

"Really Reyna?" Jason asked, "Is it necessary to integrate me?"

Reyna have him another unamused look. Then she sighed, "Come on, I'll give you a ride." She said finally. She readjusted her purse on her shoulder and twirled around. Her car was a couple rows away, Jason was desperate enough to actually take her offer.

He reached in and grabbed his bag from his car and locked his vehicle. Then Jason ran after the girl. 

"Reyna-" Jason watched his friend's chocolate braid disappear behind a truck and he charged after her. He looked down and checked his watch.

Right as he did he crashed right into a girl...for the second time in ten minutes. 

Jason sucked in a breath. She was gorgeous. Her hair was choppy like she cut it herself, and still looked better than any professional hairstylist. She wore no make up, but her eyes sparkled. She bit her lip.

"Uh, sorry." She mumbled. 

"Jason, are you coming?" Reyna popped back around the car, "because I'm leaving."

"Yeah," Jason finally tore his eyes away from the girl. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you. Bye."

He ran after Reyna, before the girl could reply. He wanted to slap himself. No girls, not even one that far out of his league. He was too busy to have a relationship. But he snuck one last glance back at her beautiful dreamy face, that was reading a crumpled note.

Then he was in Reyna car, a small, four door, Volkswagen Golf. She started up her car, pursuing her lips. It was silent. Reyna peeked out of the student parking lot turning towards the diner where Jason worked. Jason could feel a drop of nervous sweat skidding down his neck. Ten minutes late...

"You suck." Reyna said suddenly.

"What?" Jason frowned

"You don't even remember, do you?" Reyna snapped, her eyes flashed from the road to glare at him.

"Reyna, what are you taking about?"

"Wednesday night, 7:00, Pizza Parade." She snapped, "ring any bells?"

Jason blinked. Wednesday night, he worked Wednesday night. In a flash it hit him. And pure horror took over. "Oh my god, Reyna!" Jason shouted, "I'm so so sorry! I'm such an idiot, Dakota called out last minute. No one else would cover!"

"I sat in that stupid booth, Grace." Reyna hissed angrily. "I sat there in that stupid loud obnoxious place for two hours. Two hours! I kept telling myself, oh Jason will be here. He's probably already on his way. There's no way he'd blow me off for work AGAIN. You're an ass, Grace."

Jason bit his tongue. But his hands were curled into white knuckled fists. He closed his eyes to stop the tears, his throat burned. She didn't know how much he wanted to be there. How much he wanted to blow off work to sit with her. Just to chill and have one normal conversation, without worrying about money problems.

"Reyna, please-" Jason asked.

"You need to take a day off." She glared him. 

"REYNA! I can't!" Jason yelled, "you know perfectly well why-"

"Get out of my car. I never want to see you again." Jason hadn't realized they were there until Reyna stopped. She flicked a brown strand of hair out of her eyes. She hissed at him. Jason realized he had no choice but to listen to her. He gave her one last pleading look, which she ignored, and opened the door. After he got out, Reyna rolled down the window, wearing a pair of orchid shades that Jason wasn't sure where she got them.

"And Grace," She said void of emotion, "four hours is not enough sleep."

Then she pulled away and was gone in the sea of cars. Jason wanted to stop and cry right there. Reyna was his only friend. The only person he told about his...problems. And now he was alone again.

Yeah alone and fifteen minutes late for work.

"Someone help me." He muttered to himself, and he ran into the diner.

The dinner was full, as it always was after school let out. It was the place to be, whether you were cool, or nerdy, or outcast. He ran through the glass doors where he almost ran into a waitress carrying drinks.

Katie Gardner glared at him, but it was replaced by a smile as she set down the drinks for a couple too busy making out to notice she was there. Then she grabbed Jason's wrist and dragged him into the back. 

"Where have you been?" Katie asked as he the his bag in a lump in his supplies cubby. She tossed him his uniformed apron and picked a pencil out of a cup on a table nearby. "Gwen took off two minutes early and it's just been Dakota and Me working this crazy shift!"

"Car broke down." Jason replied gruffly.

"Yeah sure-Are you okay?" Katie cocked her head.

Jason fake smiled. "Yeah," he lied, "perfectly fine."

That was it. Katie didn't push. She gave him a look he couldn't read and hurried out the doors to take a takes order. Jason wondered how much longer he could keep it up before he collapsed. Then he followed her out.

Two minutes later his feet were already hurting. Ten minutes and his feet were on fire. He didn't get off work until six hours later. 

And then his boss, an annoying greedy man by the name of Krios, called him over for his pay. 

"Here's your pay." The towering figure said. 

Jason looked down at the cash in his hands. "Sorry, sir, there must be a mistake." Jason said as he recounted the bills. "I worked all week. This is only four days worth." His feet burned wanting him to sit but he refused

Krios looked at him with distaste. "You were fifteen minutes late, Grace. I took the money out."

"I worked all week. All seven days. You promised eight dollars an hour. I worked every day last month!" Jason argued.

"That's all your getting kid. Now scram, before I fire you."

"You can't do this! I earned that money!" I need that money. Jason thought.

"Too bad." With that Krios walked away.

Katie looked at him with a dash of sympathy as she finished scrubbing the counter. Jason took a slow and painful gulp of air. He needed that money.

Then he turned and walked out the doors. And he walked home in the dark, his feet burning, knowing he failed his test, lost his one good friend, and got underpaid and couldn't do a thing about it. He could feel his frustration bubbling up. He could feel the burning behind his eyes where he wanted to cry. 

His hands searched his pockets for the late rent notification and came back empty handed. He moaned. Thunder echoed in the city. And Jason could feel his own tears starting to fall. His book bag weighed enough to crush an elephant, his knees feel like jelly. A car rumbled down the ride beside him.

And for a second one clear thought broke through everything.

Jump.

And he almost did. Right in front of the car. He almost ended his life right that second. He would've given anything just to sit down for a moment and have a normal conversation with his friends.

Jason thought of Reyna. Her last look of pure distaste, of a broke heart, her biting tone. The guilt of ruining that night overtook him. And he realised...

Jason Grace didn't have anymore friends.

Somehow that night he made it home. His watch read 8:45. The stars cascaded a white glow through the air. He jogged up the steps to his apartment, the keys already in his hands. 

He wouldn't need the keys.

He wouldn't need to even turn the knob.

The door was open. Wide open. And everything valuable they owned, which wasn't much, was gone.

Jason fell to his knees. He let go for a moment. And he let out a sob. And this time when he went to cry, he didn't even try to stop himself. 

He sat in the middle of the mess the robbers had made, he sat and he cried himself to sleep.


	4. Piper

There was only one person Piper McLean wanted attention from. She didn't want any boyfriends. She could care less if all the students in the school stopped taking to her. But Piper McLean would've given anything to have her father stop and say "Good morning". Or "Good afternoon". Or "you look nice". Or "I love you".

Or just look at her. Just a glance. There were times when Piper would go up to her dad and start talking.

"Hey Dad, I drew you a picture!" She use to say. "I made it just for you." He'd nod and continue writing on his paper.

As she got older it was, "Hey Dad, I'm thinking about trying out for softball, what do you think?" He'd mutter something incoherent and sip his coffee.

Then it was, "I kissed a boy Dad!" Then she would frown, she'd wave a hand in front of him and when he didn't blink she'd say "I had sex with a boy, Dad."

After a while she just gave up taking. After a while she realized he just didn't care. So she tried a different approach. She got all A's in seventh grade. She wore beautiful outfits and make up in eighth. She invited people over for parties without permission in ninth. She started stealing things in tenth.

The worse she ever got was her dad's Secretary yelling at her.

He didn't even bother talking to her.

And she was 100% done with it. 

She walked down the hall barely noticing the wave of people moving out of the way for her. The chattering and laughter of her fellow classmates fell on deaf ears. Piper didn't care about the latest fashions she was somehow setting, she didn't care about the newest sports team, unless her dad suddenly decided to become a player who adored his fans, she definitely didn't care about random frizzy haired, golden eyed, girl getting bullied.

Or at least not until Piper ran into her.

Piper trip over her converse shoe laces, falling right into the girl. Hey books scattered across the floor. And a round of obnoxious laugh broke forth. 

The girl, Piper noticed, looked incredibly uncomfortable. Her dress was golden but it also looked too tight. She tugged at the collar just to breathe. She wore too much make up, though it looked like she'd spent a long and delicate time working it. Her hair was agitated into a pony tail, that Piper thought would probably look gorgeous down. She was fighting to hold back tears and her face was a blotchy red with embarrassment.

Piper really didn't care what everyone thought of her. She didn't need their attention. She didn't even like the attention. Unless it was from her dad.

"See?" A tall girl towered over both of them, and the little girl next to Piper scooted back slightly, "You're so ugly it's laughable, Levesque."

The girl bit her lip looking away.

"Hey freak! I'm not done talking to you." The bully smirked, "You're a fat and stupid cow. You're not even pretty to have a nice name. Who names their kid Hazel?" The bully spit with an emphasize of Hazel. Personally, Piper loved the name Hazel. 

The little girl next to her, who's name must have been Hazel, was crying now. Hatred boiled in Piper's stomach. Hazel was obviously trying. And she didn't look fat or stupid. She looked pretty, though Piper still thought she'd look even better natural. 

"And your clothes!" The bully mocked, "Hun, you're doing something wrong. Where'd you get your clothes, B*tch? Forever 1894?"

"Shut up, Drew." Piper's voice cut like a knife through the air. She had that effect sometimes. It seemed everyone stopped to hear what she would say. It disgusted her that no one would stand up for this poor little girl.

Piper got off the ground so she was eye to eye with the most poplar girl in school, Drew Tanka. Drew looked shocked that anyone would talk back to her.

"Well if it isn't Piper McLoser." Drew stuttered. "Sticking up for this ugly piece of trash-?"

"I said shut up." Piper hissed. "I think she looks beautiful. I also think you look like a scamp. And I swear if I ever hear you telling anyone they are anything but amazing, I will have my dad by out your dad's fashion corporation, and make sure the only job you will ever be able to get is the one as my personal maid."

Of course most of those were a bunch of lies. Her dad wouldn't give her a second, much less buy out a corporation just because she wanted him to. But the words had the desired effect. Drew looked somewhere between horrified and murderous, which resulted in a constipated face.

Piper would've laughed had her stomach not felt like puking. She turned away headed for the parking lot, the other kids left a whisper-filled aura behind her. Hazel had disappeared somehow between the other high schoolers, Only a book left behind.

Piper sucked in the last of her calm demeanor and fixed a smile out. "Oh and Drew, Hun," she smirked at the poplar girl, "It takes a piece of trash to know one."

A series of "ooooohhhh!" and "burn!" hummed in the hallway and everything turned back to normal. Piper walked out the doors head towards her car. 

And that was when the hott guy bumped into her. He was so good looking. He had short, blond hair and sky blue eyes. Even though he looked exhausted and miserable, Piper thought he looked amazing.

Did she look ok? What was her name again? Wait, Piper, McLean. Why did she fell hot? Was it hot? It's almost Christmas, like ten degrees out.

"Uhhhh..." She mumbled intelligently, "Sorry."

His eyes flashed.

"Jason, are you coming?" A girl peeked from around a car, "because I'm leaving." She looked at Piper, barely.

"Yeah," the boy finally tore his eyes away from Piper. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you. Bye."

Then he was gone. Piper sighed. Jason...what a nice name. But he probably had a girl friend. Probably that girl who was driving him home.

She frowned and picked up a paper from the ground. It had been crumpled into a ball, with tough edges. It must have fallen from the boy's -Jason's- pocket.

It looked like a formal paper. Typed in the same stuff her dad's acting scripts were.

Dear Beryl Grace,

Piper cocked her head. Who was that? His mother maybe?

She skipped over the lines, searching for key words. Late, rent, overdue, two weeks. Piper frowned. Then she realized this paper was a late rent notification and therefore totally not her business. But she couldn't help it her eyes jumped to the numbers. She winced.

"It's none of my business." Piper reminded herself.

But she couldn't bring herself to throw the paper away. They were two weeks away from being thrown out in the street. And it wasn't like Piper was short on cash. 

"Stop being stupid, Piper." She mumbled. But the paper was already placed in her purse. Then Piper actually walked to her car. 

"-What the Hell!" A voice cried from a car over. Piper glanced to see a small Latino boy yelling into a phone. His back was to her as he leaned on the side door of a random car. "Where else do I midnight train tickets to Canada, Stoll? I'm not coming back this time!"

Piper frowned. Was he running away?

"Put Travis on the phone, Connor." The boy said, "I want business, not stupidity."

"Connor? Connor? Aww damnit Stoll!" The boy slammed his fist against the car angrily and started to turn. Piper quickly ducked into her car afraid of being caught eavesdropping. The boy looked like a Latino Santa elf, an angry Latino Santa elf. 

He stomped past her car without a glance. 

Just like her dad did every day. Just like her dad did ten minuets later when she got home.

And would continue to do probably for the rest of her life.


	5. Leo

(Next day)

There were some days in which Leo was ready to start running and never look back. Some days when he was just ready to give up and hit the road. All alone again. Just him and Festus.

And then there were days when he was already out the door.

This was one of those days. He walked into his first period, and almost walked right back out.

"Not this time, Mr.Valdez." A strong hand landed on his shoulder, spinning him around, and lightly shoving him toward the desks.

The science classroom was always one of Leo's least favorite classes. He didn't quite know why. Though the words on the board wouldn't freak out a normal kid, SCINCE EXPERIMENT TODAY made Leo's skin crawl.

He sat in the back corner the desk closest to the window, so he could look out while he avoided doing the assignment.

"Mr. Valdez, if you could please move to one of the desks set up with a buson burner, I would be delighted."

Leo could feel the rest of the classes eyes on him. He glanced at the door, it was only twenty steps...

Leo sighed picked up his bag and moved to the only open space, next to a thickly built Chinese guy. The guy frowned.

"Ok class, we're are going to attempt to create artificial snow, in relation to this wonderful holiday season. You're partners are the people seat directly next to you."

There were a series of groans and celebratory high-fives. Leo looked at the guy next to him warily.

"The directions are on the packet that was at your seats. Before you start mixing chemicals, let's review a quick demonstration on how to use the buson burner..."

"Frank."

Leo glanced at the guy next to him. "Huh?"

"Frank, Zhang, that's my name." He said. "I figured since we're partners we should probably know each other's names." He tried to put off a smile but it looked forced.

Leo looked at him and the paper in between them. "Heh, yeah."

The teacher went on talking about proper safety. Frank was looking at him expectantly.

"Sooo...?"

Leo glanced at him, "Soooo...What?"

"Your name?" Frank asked, "You do have one, right?"

"Leo." Leo said shortly. "Don't-"

"And now we're going to light it..." The teachers voice carried over what he was going to say. With a flick of his wrist a match was lit.

Leo choked over his words. Everything melted away. The flame grew.

_"I'll be right back, Leo. Don't touch the matches."_

"Leo, you okay?" Frank asked.

Leo nearly feel out of his chair. His breathing came out in short gasps. His heart rate seemed to jump dramatically.

"Mr. Valdez?"

Leo ran out the door. Out of the class. Away from the flame. He ran a hand through his curly hair. The memories tried to take over, but Leo forced them back.

_I didn't mean to. It's not my fault._

Leo curled his hands into fists. He tried to believe it. That it hadn't been his fault. But the more he denied, the more he knew they were lies.

"Hey! Watch it!"

Leo didn't stop, until the hand grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey man, chill out." The boy had white blond hair, with eyes that would make girls swoon had they not incorporated a tiredness and recent puffiness from tears. "You're not the only one with tough life."

Leo looked at him and shook his head. He snorted, "Whatever Hell you think you're living in, mine is ten times worse, buddy."

The boy threw him a sick smile, "Yeah sure." Leo looked at him again. He'd probably had been crying over a girlfriend again, maybe his dad yelled at him, he got his phone taken away at the worse. Leo couldn't do this. Not school. No one would understand.

One week. One week and he was gone. He'd arrive in Canada in time for Christmas. He'd call the Stolls again. Then he and Festus would head out again.

His hands found its way to his pocket. He pulled out the small hand-carved Dragon. It was half burned, a dark charcoal rubbing on the one side. The bottom was inscribed, Hephaestus, half the word burned off to make Festus.

His last good memory before the Fire. When his mom would spend hours with him in her workshop creating beautiful works, fiddling with circuits, sometimes mechanical works with cars, teaching him everything she knew.

The blond guy checked his watch, muttering "I'm late" and something about a car.

"What's wrong with your car?" The words tumbled from Leo's mouth before he could stop them. An ache echoed in his chest.

"It won't start." The boy said, "Know any cheap mechanics nearby?"

Leo put Festus back in his pocket, he turned away, his chest hurt. He could clearly see his mother's face in his mind her brilliantly lit up eyes, her wide genuine smile when he fixed his first engine.

"No." Leo lied, "I don't know any mechanics." He walked down the hall and didn't look back.


	6. Nico

_"Creepy emo."_

_"Loser."_

_"_ _Freak."_

_"Murder."_

Every word felt like a stab in his back. Every whisper like a fountain spouting lies. Lies designed specifically to tear him apart.

His hands were still shaking. His eyes looked hollow. He felt hollow.

_I wish they would just stop._

A jock slammed into him knocking him aside. Nico gritted his teeth. His shaggy, black, untamed hair covered his eyes. The jock looked at him expectantly. His smile taunting the younger boy to knock all his teeth out

_I wish they would understand._

He kept walking. Not because he wanted to. But because he knew that is what she would've wanted him to do. Not to start a fight. Not to argue or yell out.

"Hey, goth!" The jock yelled, "Why do you always wear black?"

Nico closed his eyes. They would forget in a second, just keep walking. They wouldn't push that hard.

"I asked you a question, freak."

_I wish they would leave me ALONE._

"Does it hide the blood from your murder victims?" The jock, Atlas, smiled sickly, "Where did you put their bodies? Your closet, murder?"

"Huh, Di Angelo? Do you, you creepy murdering freak? You did push her in front of the car, right?"

"I saw him..."

"-His own sister-!"

"No wonder he's so alone..."

"I hope he dies."

"Shut up." Nico hissed through his teeth.

Atlas looked at the others in the hall, "Oh, he can talk!" The other students laughed.

Nico dug his nails into his shoulder strap. He could almost see her disproving face shining down on him. Her olive skin, paler, not a scrap of blood on her. Her eyes hidden under her green cap, behind her shade of coal hair. Her nose splashed with freckles.

It was the girl remembered sharing ice cream and crayons with. Not the bloody mass that the police pulled from under the car.

"So, freak, everyone wants to know. Why'd you push her? What did you gain after her pathetic death?"

"I didn't." Nico said coldly, "I didn't push her. I didn't even go near her! And if you call Bianca pathetic ever again, I will make you go to sleep...forever, you son of b*tch."

"Ooohhh...looky who found a voice." The boy smirked, "I don't care what the cops believe, Nico Di Angelo is still a murder-"

He never finished his statement. Nico whirled around and hooked him in the jaw. It wasn't a reckless punch. Nico couldn't stop himself. An entire year of taunts, whispers, rumors, lies, stupid idiot guys who thought they knew everything about him, flowed out of Nico. A punch in the face, a jab in the neck, a kick in the stomach. The young boy had to be dragged off the screaming, bloody boy.

"I will get you for that, Freak!" Atlas yelled through a mouthful of blood.

Nico breathed heavily. His nose was bleeding, from a failed defensive move from the jock. But the blood just made Nico look more terrifying. The entire hall had gone silent. A shock of the fight. Nico could feel every single eye on him. He glared back.

Then Nico re-shouldered his bag and left the scene. He didn't care about the blood on his face. He didn't care about the looks he was getting. He didn't even care that he was going to be suspended, while the jock got away clean (because gods forbid the football team miss even a single player).

He didn't bother with his classes. The bells rang and Nico walked right by his second block class. The students didn't give him another glance. The teachers turned a blind eye. The classes started and not one person cared Nico wasn't in them. He wiped the blood stream from his nose. He imagine her face if she saw him. She rolled her eyes and readjust her cap like she did when she was nervous.

_"Gods, Neeks,"_ she'd say using his nickname. _"A fist fight? What are you, four?"_

_"They started it! They said you were pathetic."_ He'd reply. She'd sigh and scruff his hair. Then she'd pull him into a warm hug not caring if he got blood on her shirt. And for a second, Nico filled himself into thinking he actually was being hugged, a slight warmth seeping through this jacket. But it was replaced by an icy cold that sent shivers through him. She wasn't hugging him.

She would never hug him again.

_I wish she would come back._

Nico walked out of the school building. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't care either. He walked past a group of kids around the back of the school, in plain sight of the cameras drinking and a couple smoking.

"Hey! Hey, Di Angelo, my man!" One of the boys yelled. He ran over to the black-clad boy his hand sloshing a cup of an amber drink carelessly. He stumbled grabbing Nico's arm for support. With a wide smile on his face his eyes somewhat gazed over. He was drunk, the only reason Castor would dare go near him. Nico recoiled at the alcoholic smell.

"Nico, my main man!" Castor slurred, leaning almost entirely top on Nico, "My parents are out of town tonight. Me and my twin, Pollux-do you 'member him? You punched his teeth out last year- Are throwing a party. Everyone's invited! I got Dakota to get me some booze. I'm thinkin' bout nailing Thalia tonight. Spike her drink with a little Rohypnols, I heard she'd go crazy for any drink. Dakota said, he said, that she attacked him last Wednesday right before he went to work.

"So, Neeks, you coming?"

Nico stiffened at the mention of his nickname. It took all of his power not to sock Castor in the jaw.

"No." Nico said working from under the dunk weight. Castor face planted in the mud. "And don't ever call me Neeks, again." Castor didn't respond, he was already passed out on the ground, covered in alcohol and mud.

Nico wasn't going to that party. There would be drugs, and loud music, and alcohol. Girls in skanky clothes, boys spiking drinks, people kissed others, who would possibly regret it in the morning. People going upstairs, locking themselves in bedrooms and not coming out. That was the type of party the Twins hosted. But as Nico thought of it more, and as his mind swirled with all the things Bianca, His sister, would've said no to, he started thinking...

_Maybe I do need a drink..._


	7. Hazel

Hazel didn't have a real family. She never had a sibling. Her dad had left when he found out her mom was pregnant and her mom died in child birth. Sometimes Hazel would lay in her bed and fantasize what her mother would do when she found Hazel crying into her pillow every night. 

It probably wasn't, stare blankly at her before turning away. It probably wasn't a poorly sympathetic pat on the back, as she walked by without a word. All Hazel knew was that from her foster families. She'd been bounced around so many times she'd get confused with which was which.

And after crying, Hazel would remember one little about her current situation. She wasn't real. And then she'd sob a little harder.

That's how things worked in the Di Angelo household. She wasn't real. She was not Hazel Levesque, only daughter to Marie Levesque. She was a cheap replacement. 

A replacement for Bianca Di Angelo.

The sister adored by Nico Di Angelo. The perfect daughter bragged about by the ever rich, ever busy, Hades Di Angelo. The confident, supportive friend of almost everyone in school.

And Hazel knew she'd never replace Bianca.

She wasn't pretty like the pictures showed her to be. She wasn't confident like the stories said she was. She had no clue how to be a sister, and never knew what Hades wanted. 

And when she was at school, she didn't even know how to stick up for herself.

"Hazel, please stop crying." A voice said comforting, from beyond the tin metal stall door. "Let me in."

Hazel wiped the stream of tears off her cheek. Her wrist came back with a liquid black smudges. Hazel sobbed harder.

"Hazel!" The voice outside snapped, "Open this door right now!"

The tears made everything blurr together.

"Ughhh!" The voice outside groaned, "I'm trying to help Levesque! Stop pushing me away!"

"Just...go away... Selina."

"Maybe I will!" There was a stomping and silence other than Hazel's sobs. 

"Damnit!" Selina cried, "Hazel, get out of there you're ruining your mascara!"

As far as friends go, Selina Beauregard was Hazel's only friend. If that. She was loyal...to her make up. She was nice but Hazel knew she only hung around her because her OCD hated seeing Hazel's make up, messed up.

"We have class in four minutes Hazel!" Selina urged, "Your Smokey eye takes slightly longer than that, alone!"

"Just go!" Hazel cried, hiccuping between words "I'll do...my own...today!"

"But-but!"

"GO!"

Hazel could imagine how furious Selina was. She wasn't quite sure the tile floor didn't crack when she stomped away. 

Drew had "accidentally" shoved her head into a water fountain. So her hair was soaked, her dress which she just bought and a size too small was wet, her make up ruined. And her self confidence had been crushed almost a year ago.

Carefully, cautiously, Hazel opened the stall door. 

The mirrors must have been broken. She couldn't look this bad. Her hair had twisted itself into a rat's nest of curls. Her face was streaked with black mascara, eye liner, and her eye shadow like a rainbow decided to throw up on her. She tugged at the chafing collar on her dress. The ribbon belt around her waist felt like someone had tied a noose around her middle.

The bell rang echoing through the halls. 

Hazel tugged at a knot in her cinnamon hair. A spike of pain hit her and her fingers came loose. She wet a paper towel and dabbed away the tear trail. 

Hazel pulled a mini make up kit from her bag. As soon as she opened it, her eye liner pencil flung out of the case rolling across the tile floor.

Hazel grabbed after it, only to have it stepped on by a red converse. Hazel looked up to see a familiar face. The popular girl who stood up to Drew for her yesterday. She looked beautiful, as always. Her choppy brown hair just seemed to work for her. And a tomboy jacket with her superhero T shirt and jeans, made her look easy going. 

"Please tell me your not doing make up." She said.

Hazel glared distastefully. "Well not everyone is born perfect."

The girl rolled her eyes with...was that pity?! Seriously?!

"Look I can make you prefect." The girl claimed. She bent down and picked up the eye liner.

"What?"

"I can make you prefect." She said, "Just trust me and say the word."

Hazel looked at her. Was she joking? No, she was serious. She could make Hazel beautiful. She could make it so no one would laugh at her, so Nico would look up to her, so Hades would brag about her? She could do that?

"Yes." 

The girl smiled. "Okay turn around and face the stall." She gently turned the girl. And Hazel crossed her fingers for luck. "I'm Piper, by the way."

"Hazel. Levesque." Hazel replied monotone. "And can you really make me beautiful?"

"Yep."

Piper pulled a brush from her bag. And Hazel could feel her tugging at the knots easily.

"Aren't you suppose to be in class?" Hazel asked tugging at her dress again.

Piper snorted, "I was in old man Dynonious's class. You know the teacher who only plays documentaries and sleeps during class? All I had to do was ask to get a drink. He probably forgot I left."

Hazel shared a smile with her. Piper finished with her hair and came around front brushing Hazel's face with a wet paper towel.

"Thanks. I mean I never told you yesterday. For sticking up for me." Hazel said. Piper paused with her wet cloth for a moment.

"No problem." Piper whispered as if suddenly on edge. "I don't like it when people around you ignore a situation. I don't like people getting ignored, in general."

Hazel frowned. Piper shook her head and he smile returned. She tossed the towel in the trash and brushed off her hands. 

"There done."

Hazel was confused. She didn't add make up. Piper spun her around and reflection was...different. She looked natural. A face she hadn't seen in a year stared back at her foreignly. 

"I'm...me?" Hazel asked quizzically.

"Yes." Piper placed her brush in her bag. "You are beautiful. Without the make-up. Without the dresses a size too small. And if anyone tells you otherwise, punch them in the face."

"I'm not sure I can do that without getting suspended."

"Well...then tell me and I'll punch them in the face. It's not like I have anything better to do." Piper shrugged with a trouble maker smile. "Or better yet, we both punch them in the face and get suspended together."

Hazel hated to admit it but every second Hazel was liking that idea a little more. She could feel this girl partially building her self confidence back up one brick at a time.

"Come on!" Piper tugged her arm, "Let's go do something."

"Like what?" Hazel shouldered her bag.

"I dunno. How about we-Oof!"

Piper slammed straight into a boy with bond hair and my blue eyes. They both blushed a light pink.

"Can't stop running into you, can I?" The boy asked. 

Piper seemed to freeze for a moment, but she quickly smiled back. "Guess not. I'm Piper, by the way, and this is my friend, Hazel."

The word "friend" sent warn feeling down Hazel's spine. Piper considered her a friend? 

"Jason." He smiled, though it seemed fake, like he was a million miles away, "I'm sorry, I'd love to talk, but I've got to run."

"Where you headed?"

"My, uh, job. My car won't start and I can't risk being late again..." He feverishly checked his watch. 

"I'll drive you." Piper offered.

"Uh..."

"It's okay, me and Hazel were just about to skip out anyway." Piper made a go-with-it nod at her.

"Yeah, sure, we were taking about going to movies later." Hazel said, "Maybe you could join us after you get off?"

Piper looked frozen with the smile on her face. Like she wasn't quite sure what just happened. 

Jason swallowed uneasily. "I don't wanna push for a ride on you."

"Have you looked for a mechanic?" Hazel asked. 

"Yeah, but a can't find a cheap one."

"Did you try Leo Valdez? He's actually a student here for now. Short, curly haired, Latino Santa elf? He's got a small Dragon statue he carries around like his life line ever since-" 

Hazel gasped and choked on her words, slamming a hand over her mouth. 

"What?" Piper prodded. Jason was frowning like something was bothering him.

"Nothing." Hazel said quickly. "Nothing at all."

"Oh come on, tell us!"

"He would hate me if I told." Hazel felt terrible all over again. "And we aren't on very good terms now."

"I ran into a guy a minute ago like that." Jason said, "He said he didn't know any mechanics."

Hazel bit her lip. Piper was giving her puppy dog eyes. "Okay fine," she relented, "When Leo was seven, his house burnt down, his mom got caught in the fire. We ended up in the same orphanage. He's a brilliant mechanic. I heard he's going to start running again though. That's all I know." Hazel hoped they wouldn't see through her white lies.

Jason looked crestfallen. "I need someone, now."

"Okay, here's the thing." Hazel said quietly, feeling a stab of guilt. "He's seriously attached to the Dragon statue. He'd do anything for it. Not kidding. I'm pretty sure he'd even murder for it. It's got some sentimental value to him."

"So your saying, this Leo Valdez would fix my car for free if I got my hands on his Dragon?"

Hazel nodded, feeling sick. 

"You know, how about you two go, Piper, Jason." Hazel said, "I'll catch up to you later."

Piper looked at her funny, "you okay?"

Hazel forced a smile. "Yep, peachy!" She turned away. "Jason's almost late anyway." She called over her shoulder.

They didn't press. They looked at each other and ran in the opposite direction. Hazel could imagine them running into a sunset together. 

She had a friend now. And she looked pretty. And she helped a poor guy with his car problem.

Hazel pulled out a picture her old boyfriend from her pocket. She let a tear hit the crumpled, written folded paper, right over the boy face.

"If so," she asked staring at the picture of a younger, Leo Valdez, before he started running, "Why do I feel so terrible?"


	8. Nico

By the time Nico got to the party, it was exactly how he'd imagined it. People all over the place. On the front lawn alone twenty or so people drunk or passed out or sucking each others faces off. Music shook the ground violently. Nico didn't have to know Castor and Pollux's address. The sky was alight with so many colors it made a couple people collapse into spasms.

Two of Castor's friends were handing out drinks at the front door. Inside there were a lot more people. The DJ was run by two identical looking boys, notorious for selling everything they can get their hands on in the black market, The Stoll brothers. Each of them had electric green head phones on, bobbing to the music, a drink in their hands.

A girl walked up to Nico, walking weirdly, and a stupid smile on her face. Her clothes were a little too tight, and covered in a foul smelling substance- either barf or alcohol. She giggled and wrapped her arms around Nico's neck. "How about we head upstairs, babe?"

Nico pried her off, "How about, no."

"Aww, your no fun, handsome."

She brushed her fingers against his chin, causing Nico to shiver with disgust. Then her eyes gazed and she took a drink of a nearby cup, not that it mattered what was in it, or who's it was. Nico sunk into the shadows creeping around the sweaty, smelly, mass of inappropriately dancing teenagers. The beat seemed to rattle his entire body.

"Nico!" A voice yelled loudly next to him. Even so, Nico could barely hear it, "My main man!" Castor appeared with his dark hair slicked back with sweat. He grinned holding two red plastic cups. His face was illuminated with flashing red and blue and green. "Here! I got Dakota to make you one himself!" Castor held out one of the cups.

"Oops, not that one, that's got the drug in it." He quickly switched the cups and Nico raised an eyebrow. He took the cup which flashed with a dark red wine color. Castor laughed. "Gotta go! Thalia's over there! I wanna get her early so I can hit Katie before Travis comes down!"

Castor grinned maniacally, pointed towards a girl across the room guzzling beer straight from a copper can. She had bright blue highlights, and night black hair, with a splash of freckles on her nose. Her eyes looked bloodshot, her moves lacky, and she looked ready to pass out already. Even so she looked familiar. Castor raised his cup to Nico and headed over to the girl. Nico looked at the cup in his pale hand.

_Don't you dare!_

Nico looked to his left, frowning. A mirage of Bianca stood there, hands on her hips. She shimmered, like a ghost.

_Why are you here, Neeks?! This is a terrible party! People are having SEX UPSTAIRS!!_

Nico looked at the drink and brought it up to his mouth.

_Nico! That is Alcohol! Is this how-_

Nico took a sip and swallowed. The drink burned down his throat, tasting worse than liquid sandpaper.

At the same moment a guy and a girl from the mob of dancing freaks slammed into the wall right where Bianca had been. His sister disappeared. The guy and the girl were kissing like their lives depended on it. Barely breathing. The guy started tugging at the girls shirt and she started lifting it up. Nico shook his head and looked away.

Bianca's words still running in his ears. Why was he at this party? Why was he doing this? Is this how he wanted Bianca to be remembered? It's just a hallucination.

Nico thought to himself. Bianca, is dead. She can't talk to you. His eyes landed on Thalia again. Castor was taking her hand and he was talking but Nico couldn't hear anything. Thalia was shaking her head sleepily. He smiled and said something and Thalia seemed to try and resist. But then she fell over, right into Castor's arms.

Suddenly, Nico knew why Thalia looked familiar. From a couple years ago. A club meeting at his house. He wasn't suppose to have been in the room with the girls, but the whole group had been lounging in the family room for a club meeting. A banner hung across the front hall, "Welcome Hunters!" written in larger black and silver paint.

The top girl, couldn't have been older than fifteen was named Artemis and she talked with authority. Thalia had been the her right hand man, or in this case woman. Something else was bugging Nico though. He'd seen her even more recently. When, though? He set his cup down, the alcohol churning in his stomach. The look in Castor's eyes flashed in his mind.

Before Nico could stop himself, he started pushing through the crowd. He couldn't explain it, but he felt he owed Thalia something. A guy collapsed in front of him foaming at the mouth. Nico jumped over him and headed for the stairs. Castor carried Thalia in one arm, her face pale and her eyes closed so she looked like a corpse. A flicker of an image clicked in Nico's mind.

Castor clinked his cup, with a guy by the stairs yelling over the music. Nico shoved past a girl wearing only a bikini. Nico didn't even want to think why she was wearing that. Some guy stumbled back pouring beer down his back. Castor was almost up the stairs now, the DJ booth right before him. Travis and Connor seemed to be fighting over a music station, with Connor pouring his cup of an amber liquid right over Travis's head. Nico ran up the stairs.

"Castor!" He yelled. Castor kept going grinning like an idiot. "Castor stop!" The drunken boy wobbled as he turned around, his eyes bloodshot like he'd spent the last hour poking pencils in his eyes.

"Nico! My main man!" Castor screamed, over the music. Nico gritted his teeth. "How's it going?"

"Wonderful!" He lied, "but I wanna talk to Thalia!" Castor laughed and ruby light casted a malicious glue on his features. "No way man! She's out cold! This is the perfect time to nail her!"

"Dude, I really need to see her!"

"What?!"

"Let me see her!"

"What?!"

Nico grunted in frustration he grabbed Castor's shirt collar and yelled in his ear, "I'm taking Thalia home!"

Castor expression was slacking, but he was definitely against the idea. "What, you going to nail her, Di Angelo? No way! I called dibs!" Castor shoved him away pitifully. Nico stepped down to steps with surprise. Castor turned and pulled Thalia up a step.

Nico wasn't sure what happened next. He remembered grabbing Castor's arm and he knew Castor flung himself back, dropping Thalia on the stairs.

Then somehow Castor went over the edge of the stairs. The wooden railing broke and he fell into the air. Seconds later he landed on the DJ station, and the table snapped in half. The music jittered and everyone stopped to look at Castor, Travis had dispersed and Connor looked a little crazed at his broken music table.

Then just when Nico thought someone was going to attack him, the crowd let out a cheer and the drunken teenagers started dancing again. Nico didn't spend time, wondering is Castor was okay. He swooped in and checked in Thalia. She was cold, and pale. Her breathing was labored. Nico exhaled sharply. Her pulse was faint. She needed medical attention.

He picked her up, she was lighter than he expected. Nico pulled her closed to his chest, carrying her bridal style. He felt awkward. Some guys congratulated him with a pat on the back. Some tired to offer him a couple drugs in exchange for "a couple minutes in heaven". Nico obviously refused and pulled Thalia out the door. The Hospital was a few blocks away. And Nico had walked to the party. Never the less, Nico ran those blocks like his life depended on it. He almost got hit multiple times and nearly took out a blond haired girl walking out of the public library. Nico was surprised she didn't cuss him out. He burst into the lobby of the brightly lit hospital out of breath. He trekked for some medical help and immediately a nurse and two doctors ran out.

"What happened?" A doctor asked calmly, his name tag reading Dr. Apollo.

"Drugged." Nico panted. The doctors nodded taking Thalia from his arms and pulling her through the glass doors to the emergency rooms.

Nico tried to follow, but a younger teenager stopped him, "Sorry, man, no one can come." He had blond hair and wore an intern tag with the name Solace in purple Sharpie.

"I'm her, her brother!" Nico lied.

"Sorry, dude, can't go in. Not even family."

Nico watched as Thalia disappeared behind the doors. He let out sigh of breath and tried to get his breathing under control. The Solace guy pointed him toward a chair in the lobby. Why was he still here? He'd got her to the hospital. He made sure Castor didn't rape her. He could leave and never see her again. But Nico say in the chair next to a guy anxiously bouncing his knees with a blue sweatshirt that was thick and wooly. Nico clasped his hands together.

"Hey." Nico said, Randomly. The boy stopped bouncing, like he wasn't sure if Nico was taking to him.

"Hey." The boy said. They were both silent and Nico noticed he looked edgy, whenever Nico moved. It was weird. The boy could easily deck Nico with a simple flick of his wrist. "So your sister huh?"

Nico froze. He knew about Bianca? Or was it Hazel?

"You know the girl you just ran in here...?"

Nico relaxed. Thalia. He meant Thalia. "Oh yeah. Some idiot drugged her and almost had sex with her."

"Oh." He said.

"Why are you here?"

The boy tensed, he rubbed a hand over his wrist as if the sleeve was bugging him. "My mom." He said finally, "She got caught on a back road by a gang called The Monsters. Their leader, Minotaur, he...he..." Nico watched as the boy struggled for words. He had to wipe a couple tears off his cheek, and for a second the sleeve rolled back and revealed a messily wrapped wrist.

"My mom...she's in critical support."


	9. Annabeth

Just because Annabeth couldn't talk, did not mean she could not hear. It didn't mean she could respond. It didn't mean she couldn't hurt.

And she was hurting a lot.

Her dad would look at her sadly, and turn away. He was disappointed in her. She could be so much, if she could just make a noise... Her step mother...She made Annabeth's life miserable. She would mock her, try to make her talk. Her step mother had her do an outrageous number of chores, and whispered she could get out of them if she just made a sound.

One time Annabeth refused to do anything. She was young, her dad had just remarried, and Helen, her step mother, and her two sons, Matthew and Bobby, had just moved in.

That was the first time she got hit. 

That was the first time her brothers openly criticized her. 

The first time her dad turned a blind eye to everything.

The first time Annabeth realized she was on her own. 

It hurt then. It hurt now.

Ever since she ran into that boy, her pain had grown only worse. The look in his eyes. She couldn't even say sorry. 

And she couldn't get him out of her mind. He had a charm to him, something in his dull sea green eyes, like a beautiful light that had been shut off. He looked fragile, just she felt.

She could be so much....

And sometimes it hurt to dream.

Annabeth was born mute. She couldn't talk. She'd tried endlessly. But she just could not make a sound. She could do rapid fire sign language. She could give people glares that would scared them to death. 

She could design pictures of beautiful houses that would never be seen because she couldn't tell anyone about them.

But for some reason people tended to forget she could hear.

Like the teachers in the middle of class. Telling everyone she was a star student, not because she had the highest marks, which she did, but because Annabeth Chase couldn't talk.

"Annabeth!" Helen snapped waking into the kitchen where Annabeth was mopping. "I told you an hour ago I wanted the boys laundry done!"

Annabeth gestured to the mop in her hand and the kitchen.

"Get the laundry done!" Helen said sharply, "Then I want the table set in my golden wedding China."

Annabeth dropped her shoulders. The China took forever to clean. And and boys had been throwing mud at each other earlier.

"Oh and the Washers broken." Helen added with a smirk. "But you know....if you just said a word I could make Matthew and Bobby clean it up themselves..."

Annabeth looked away, before Helen could see the tears threatening to spill. A pain in her chest tightened. 

"Annabeth! Look at me when I'm taking to you!" 

Annabeth shook her head, refusing to give Helen the satisfaction of her frustrated tears. Helen had no idea what it was like to not be able to talk. 

"Annabeth!"

Helen had no idea how much Annabeth tried. She really did. Every night she'd try to make a sound. She'd studied billions of documents on vocal repairs. She'd checked out hundreds of books related to the matter. And then she worked on Homework.

And she still got top grades.

"Annabeth Chase!"

Why couldn't they just appreciate her? She wasn't that different. 

"Annabeth do you hear me?! Or, You stupid freak of nature, did you go deaf as well?!"

The mop dropped out of Annabeth's hands, they were shaking so bad. 

"Look at the mess you've made!" Helen shrieked, "Get this cleaned up!" 

Annabeth closed her eyes. Trying to ignore the pounding in her head. Her eyes dying with unshead tears. She saw a flash of movement then she was on the ground. Her cheek burned, she could see a distinct red handprint on her face in the shine of the wet tile floor.

Helen towered over her, a nasty sneer on her face. "Get it changed up."

Annabeth could feel her heart racing. She gritted her teeth. And then she pulled herself up. Helen smirked in victory. 

"Wonderful, after you set the table with the wedding China, I want the attic cleaned out and the living room dusted-"

Annabeth glared at her step mother. She shook her head no. And then she did something incredibly stupid for a girl as bright a her. She flicked Helen off. Annabeth turned and walked out the door of the kitchen and pulled her jacket from a peg by the door.

"Why you little bastard!" Helen screeched, "Get back in here, right this second!"

But by the time the words were out of her mouth, Annabeth was out the door and down the driveway. The sun was setting a cool breeze dropping the temperature rapidly. Annabeth shivered.

She had no idea where to go. She had no idea what she was doing. Annabeth just knew she couldn't sirens another second with her step mother near her.

The sky a dark purple color with faint flickers of stars. Flashes of lights dazzled the sky not too far away and if she calmed down her breathing enough, she could hear the music of a party.

Annabeth walked down the street, the only lights from near by porches or sidewalk lamps. Cars drove by with a rumble, a couple people walking dogs walked around her with a friendly smile. 

She saw on one of the nearby driveways a guy kissing a girl. When they both pulled away, Annabeth wanted to cry. Their eyes glistened with so much love it made her feel empty. Why couldn't she have that? Where was her soul mate?

Annabeth wiped away the tears. 

She hadn't noticed the path she was taking until she stood on the steps of the library. The stone building loomed over her, the lights on. Annabeth's watch read six o'clock, despite the dark shroud of night and the crisp winter wind.

The library always made her calm, always reassured her things would get better. It got better for the fictional characters. Why wouldn't they get better for her?

The sweet smell of paper and the quiet aura of peace wrapped around her as she pushed through the doors. Immediately she felt warmer. The librarian at the front desk smiled at her as she walked by. Annabeth nodded back. 

She couldn't quite muster the smile. Her cheek felt like a hot rod was being pressed into it.  Her chest ached in pain. Her eyes were watery with tears threatening to fall. 

The back part of the library was for fiction. The entire back shelves filled with fantasy. Tables were set up randomly through the building, and changed frequently depending on who needed the tables for what. There was one table that never moved. In the back section, with a comfy chair a revolving stack of books.

Annabeth's table. 

Anyone who went to the library knew, never to touch that table. The books on it were the ones Annabeth was reading. If it was any more remote than it would have been in a different country.

For once in her life, Annabeth didn't feel like reading.

She collapsed into her chair basically shaking with the effort to hide the sadness. She pushed the stack of books over, so it was teetering dangerously on the edge of the wooden desk. Annabeth crossed her arms and placed her head in her hands. 

Something wet skimmed down her cheek. Then another. Then another. Annabeth let her tears fall. Her shoulders shook. But even her sobbing was silent. 

"Uh, Hey, you okay?"

The voice picked through her thoughts. 

Annabeth exhaled harshly, her hand subconsciously signed [go away].

"Are you sure?"

Annabeth looked up, tears blurry and unfocused. Standing in front of her was a built Chinese Canadian guy. He looked at her with a mixture of sympathy and remorse. His eyes were exhausted, but he didn't leave her.

Annabeth closed her eyes. [Yes] she signed. She sniffled. 

"You don't look okay."

Annabeth wanted to tell him to back off. To let her drown in her own misery. Most people would've stopped after she raised her hand to sign.

The boy put his stack of books down on the table next to her untouched stack. He crouched next to her. 

"The library's going to be closing in a couple minutes." He said, "It's almost nine."

It felt like she'd just gotten there. A headache blossomed in her forehead. What she wouldn't give for some Advil. 

Annabeth nodded a thank you to the guy. He looked like he wanted to say something but thought better of it. He picked up his books and turned to go. 

"My mom taught sign language to me when she came back from the army. If you ever need to...talk...I'm always at the diner across the street from nine to ten studying." He said.

Annabeth nodded, he casted her a softened glance before disappearing behind another shelf. Annabeth wiped her tears on her sleeve, sniffling. Her cheek had dulled down to a faint pain. She breathed deeply.

She didn't want to go back. She'd be in even worse shape. Helen would be furious, she'd probably get another slap. She'd have to sneak in to her own room, and leave before Helen got up in the morning. Annabeth had no place to go to. She couldn't live by herself. 

Annabeth picked up her books and exited her comfy corner. The library was warm against the cold front outside. She stumbled down the steps and narrowly dodged a dark haired, pale boy carrying an unconscious. He yelled an apology, but didn't stop he was in such a hurry.

The girl didn't look healthy. The Hospital was just down the block. Annabeth didn't try to stop him. 

Across the street, the diners lights shone yellow on the parking lot. The Chinese Canadian guy from earlier opened on of the double doors, turning to look at her as if to say are you coming?

Annabeth shook her head and started waking back to her house. The boy nodded once and walked into the diner. At the same time, two people came out of the diner in a heated agreement.

Their voices carried through the air, striking Annabeth where she stood.

"This is a terrible idea, Jason!" The girl yelled, "That Dragon probably means a lot to him!"

"How else am I going to get my car fixed?" The guy argued back, "Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for your help in diving me. But I can't keep depending on you, Pipes!"

The girl froze a pink blush creeping onto her face.

"What?" The guy asked softly, worriedly. "You okay?"

"Yeah it's just...you called me Pipes." Now they were both blushing.

Annabeth turned away, quickening her pace. Her heart felt like breaking. She wanted someone to hold her and love her so much. She wanted someone who didn't care that she couldn't talk. She wanted someone to save her.

The child night air chilled Annabeth to her bone. It was like someone had poured ice water all over her. She tightened her grip of her jacket around her waist counting the sidewalk concrete blocks as she went. 

Somewhere around 107, everything started going wrong.

The shadows started creeping up to her. The nearby alley had a terrifying growling coming from it. The wind blew harder. 

Then the hand grabbed her shoulder.

"Hey, pretty girl," a voice hissed in her ear, "Where you headed this late at night?"

Even if Annabeth could've screamed, she didn't have the time.

Something hit the back of her had hard and she toppled to the ground. The last thing Annabeth Chase saw was a single red eye printed on a black shirt: the logo for the most notorious gang in the State, the Monsters.


	10. Thalia

She didn't expect to wake up to the sound of a constant beeping. Or in a sterile hospital room with baby blue walls.

At least not again.

Thalia's eyes shot open. She was alone. Of course. Always alone. What happened? The party. The music. The beer. Castor. Castor happened that shitty son of a bitch. He spiked her drink.

How did she get here?

Why was she here?

_"Watch the road! Luke! Watch the road_!"

Her breathing sped up. The heart monitor next to her picked up. Not the flashback. Not the flashback.

"Thalia." She looked up, hearing her name like a flood of cold water. The flashback tore away, this was reality. This was now.

Standing in the door way, was a volunteer doctor. He had beach blond hair and a nice tan. He wore a volunteer clip, and had a clip board in his hand.

"Hey, your brother's here."

Thalia felt her heart freeze. That's not possible. She didn't have a brother. Well not anymore. Not after their last argument.

The volunteer moved away and showed someone else to enter. He was definitely not her brother. He had a dark out look, black jeans, black shirt, dark hair, a brown worn aviator jacket. Still they looked more alike than Thalia did to her real brother.

The boy posing to be her brother nodded to her as if saying go with it.

"Thalia!" The boy said, "You okay?"

There couldn't be one question that hurt more. That question. Thalia gripped the white metal railing in the hospital bed.

"Yeah." Thalia lied, monotone, "yeah, little bro."

The volunteer smiled brightly. Thalia force herself to remain calm. Smiling. That's all they ever do. Seven at the worst news. Even when the world's falling apart. The keep smiling.

"Great!" The blond boy cheered, "I leave you two alone then, and get the paper work ready."

If the boy noticed her scowl he didn't acknowledge it as he turned and left.

The other boy, looked nervous and shoved his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Who the Hell are you?" Thalia asked with a wolf glare. The boy huffed.

"Nico Di Angelo. And right now your gonna play Thalia Di Angelo." He sounded so confident, it set Thalia's teeth on edge.

"Why the Hell would I do that?"

"Because I'm the one paying your bills, right this second. And when a guy comes in carrying an unconscious girl I look extremely guilty unless the girls my sister."

"I didn't ask for you to pay my bills!" Thalia snapped, "and how do I know you aren't guilty? Aren't you one of Castor's little jackass friends?"

"Anyone ever tell you you've got a potty mouth?"

"That's not answering my question."

"No I'm not one of his friends, despite his drunken hallucinations." Nico rolled his eyes. "I actually pushed him over a staircase railing last night."

"What?"

"He was going to rape you, so I pushed him over the staircase railing. He landed on the DJ table. You should've seen the looks on everyone's faces."

Nico smiled faintly. Thalia looked straight ahead at the blue cracking wallpaper. She sucked in a breath.

"I need to get out of here." She said.

"Your clothes are in the bathroom," Nico said boredly, "I'm going to go get some junk food from the vending machine down the hall. It's the only edible stuff here."

Almost as if he vanished into the shadows, Nico disappeared into the hall, leaving her alone. The room seemed colder without another person in there.

Her life seemed colder without him in it.

It had been an entire year. And some days it felt longer. Other days it felt like the entire crash had happen hours ago. Thalia changed into her clothes, the same ones she'd worn to the party. Except they had been cleaned and the alcoholic smell abandoned them.

She looked in the mirror. Her own expression scowled back. What happened to the happy-go-lucky days? The days when they would lie under the trees in central park watching the leaves fall? The hours of pathetic pick up lines and puns on just about everything? The warm hand holding in the cold as they snuggled side by side on Christmas? What happened to all of that?

Oh right.

He died.

Thalia glared at herself one last time and turned to walk out. Thalia sat on the hospital bed tightening the laces on her combat boots.

"Hey." Nico appeared in the doorway holding an armful of candy bars. A Butterfinger was sticking out of his mouth the yellow wrapper standing out in his assorted black clothes.

Thalia raised an eyebrow.

"I ate something from the cafeteria last night. It was disgusting." He said, "Want one?"

He dumped all the chocolate onto the bed, and pulled the Butterfinger out of his mouth, and flashed her a tired smile.

"You stayed over night?"

Nico stiffened slightly standing next to her. "Yeah, I hope that's okay. I mean...." He quickly averted his gaze from her and picked up a Milky Way bar, "Here's a candy bar."

Thalia smirked and took the chocolate. Was it her imagination or was he turning pink?

"My favorite." She said, "How'd you know?"

"You look out of this world." He said, cheekily. Thalia smiled and they locked eyes for a second.

"Can I asked you a question?" He said, after a moment of silence, "You don't have to answer."

Thalia bit down on the chocolate outside.

"Why do you drink?" Nico asked, his voice hard, guarded. The smile slipped of her face.

_"I'm doing it for you! For us, Thals..."_

_"Maybe there shouldn't be an us, then!"_

"That's none of your business." Thalia snapped. She shoved the candy back at him and jumped off the bed. Nico stumbled backwards with the force of her push. Thalia stomped over to the door, swung it inward, and slammed it shut after her. The hall extended in both directions and was quiet over the hum of the air condition unit.

A sting burned behind her eyes. Thalia felt her throat close up. She was running before she could stop herself. The floor blurred white and tears dropped off her chin.

Someone called her name. Someone got in front of her. She pushed through them and the glass double doors.

Fresh air hit her like a wrecking ball. The tears stained on her face cold froze through to her bones. And she kept running.

The sidewalk pounded. Memories swamped her thoughts like quicksand threading to pull her under. Pain spiked her entire body, growing worse with every step.

Thunder boomed overhead the sun clouded out by dark clouds. Her heart screamed, She sobbed. Alcohol kept the pain at bay. Alcohol kept the memories from hurting.

The tree was up ahead. Her tree. Thalia's tree. Just beside the sidewalk. Proud and tall.

Proud and tall.

The last place she ever saw his face. The last time they ever talked.

And this tree, they use to hang under in the summers, and talk the hours away, where they carved their names side by side, where he first asked her out, where they said their last goodbyes, was his final resting place.

"Goddamnit Luke." She whispered slamming a fist into the tree. She turned around and slid up against the rough bark.

_"I love you."_

_"Love you too, Thals." He smiled at her the sunlight hitting his hair and reflecting off. "Together Forever and Always, promise?" He held his pinkie finger over to her._

_"Promise." She clasped her finger around his and he pulled her closer and kissed her on the lips._

"You broke your promise, Luke." She said, to the tree.

" _Do you have to go?" He whined._

_"I promised I'd work tonight. Can't hurt to have a couple extra bucks, especial for Jason." She rolled her eyes._

_"I'll drive you." He offered_

_"Do I have a choice?"_

_"Nope!"_

Thalia hugged her knees to her chest. Rain started to come down on the street. Big blotches of water that mixed with her tears.

_"Listen Thalia..." He drew out, her name, with a twinkling at the end, "I've got another assignment."_

_"I thought you said you were giving up that! You know the Monsters are a bad group!"_

_"Yeah but-"_

_"No there are no buts!"_

_"They were going to come after you! I had to do something! I can't let you get hurt!"_

The rain tore through the sky bathing the world in grays and black. Lightning flashed, thunder rocked the ground.

" _I'm doing this for you! For us Thals!"_

_"Maybe there shouldn't be an us, then!"_

Someone sat down next to her. He was soaked to the core. And breathing heavily. Nico huddled under the tree with her. She started at him her hair flung in random directions, wet, and cold.

"We were driving, down this road." She yelled over the thunder of raindrops and crash of lightning, "and we got into an argument. He took his eyes off the road. Just for a second. To look at me. To see if I meant something I'd said. A girl stepped into the road, neither of them were looking. I screamed. We hit the girl and Luke jerked the wheel. We spun into the other lane. Hit another car.

"He died instantly. His neck snapped in the crash. The worse I got was seven stitches in my arm."

Thalia didn't know why she was telling him all this. The story that tie her life apart like it was made of paper. Two other people had died in the crash, the girl who had walked in front of the car, and the woman driving the other car, a war veteran, home for the holidays.

Nico looked paler than usual, his own eyes red with salty tears. "I'm sorry!" He cried, "I'm so so sorry." He grabbed her in a hug which she didn't object.

Her heart felt like jagged blades carving away at her. He was gone. Luke was gone. She was broken.

"It's all my fault." Nico cried to her, "I never should've said anything."

Thalia hugged herself tighter, the arms around her loosened like Nico was giving up.

"My sister was the girl that stepped in front of your car." He set his head on her shoulder. "Bianca was the girl that got hit." 


	11. Leo

Thunder boomed again, the lights in workshop flickered. Leo barely noticed. The schools workshop was always opened on the weekends. The back door unlocked for any student who cared enough to work on a project there. 

So it was basically Leo's little paradise.

The room rolled with projects he created in his spare time, and he was a blur jumping between them. He was building a remote controlled race car in one corner, a set of head phones in another, he was crafting book ends for the library in the shape of a Dragon, based on Festus. 

It was just him in the huge room, so he put on music through the school speakers that he hot wired the first day. Leo danced between his projects, singing along to the music off key. He wore his protector glasses like shades and occasionally he would do a spin and pretend his wrench or hammer or wire cutters were a microphone. 

He felt right doing it. Smiling and laughing at himself. It reminded him of home. If the hours dodging in and out of his mother's feet as they laughed and worked until their fingers were calloused. 

He tried not to think about it too much. 

"I don't know, Festus." Leo said, he held up his creation to the figurine.

Yes he talked to Festus. Got a problem?

"It didn't look quite right. It's missing something." Leo tilted the piece. "I'm not quite sure what though."

He sighed, and placed the unfinished book end on the table and slid across the floor to where he left his head phones sparking. Festus sat on his shoulder clipped to a suspender strap. 

The music on the schools speakers ended the song, and Leo hummed the ending lyrics as he waited the next song. His fingers twisted the wires around in a complicated pattern and he delicately placed them in a cup he'd molded to for the speaker.

He's darted from that over to his race car which had finished drying in its flaming paint setting. His boots slid on the wood dust on the floor, carrying him past the table. He grabbed the finished edge and balance himself. Leo hummed inspected his finished work. 

"What do you think?" He asked Festus.

"I think you lied to me." 

Leo looked up at the doorway startled. The blond boy stood there. His arms crossed. He didn't look mad, just annoyed. And Leo wondered how long he'd been watching. 

"You know I wasn't really taking to you..." Leo said setting the car on the ground and picking up the controls. 

"Who were you taking to?" The boy asked, "Yourself?"

Leo shifted the control forward and the car obeyed like Leo created it to. Leo drove it in circles and figure eights around the equipment and machinery in the workshop. It was doing fine until, the boy stuck his foot out and stopped it.

He picked up the car, walked over Leo. The song changed over head to something loud and obnoxious. Leo pulled another remote from his pocket flicker the speakers off. 

"You lied to me," The guy said again.

"No I didn't," Leo shot back. "I don't fix cars anymore, Kay? I just don't."

Leo turned away strolling to his headphones. The boy followed annoyingly. Couldn't the guy just leave him alone? Couldn't he just have this day to himself, to enjoy the smell of grease and wood and metal? To pretend he was back home?

He placed the frame for the cushion on the ear piece. 

"Why not?" The boy asked holding up the car, "You obviously still build cars. What's the difference?"

The frame ripped in his hands. Leo closed his eyes counting to ten to calm himself.

"You just don't understand." Leo said mostly to himself. "Why don't you go run home to your daddy and mommy and go watch football or whatever?"

"I don't have a dad. And my mom is delusional." 

"Whatever," Leo said, tightening a screw in his earpiece, "Just go away."

"I still need you to fix my car."

Leo slammed his headphones down on the table, and whipped around, "So you think annoying the Hell out of me on my one free day is-...."

Leo swallowed the rest of his words, freezing in his tracks. The boy held a small figurine in his hand. A small Dragon Figurine. Festus. Leo checked his shoulder where it had been clipped but the boy must have unclipped it when wasn't looking.

Leo didn't know what to do. He didn't even realize what he did until it was over. 

Leo's hand find a staple a nearby table. He swung it as hard as he could, right into the guy face. He stumbled back dropping the Dragon and clutching his chin. 

Leo dropped the stapler on the ground with a metal cling and scooped up the Dragon delicately checking for breaks.

The boy wiped blood of his chin cursing profusely. "Damnit! For such a scrawny kid, you can really hit!"

Leo glared at him. If looks could kill this guy would be six feet under in three seconds. "Don't. Touch. Festus."

Leo set Festus on the table and yanked the boys collar upwards. "I swear, man, if you ever come in here ever again, touch my stuff, talk to me, even look at me ever again, I will hammer your face in with my sledgehammer until your unrecognizable. Forget about your stupid shitty car. I'm not fixing it. Tough luck!"

Despite the blood dropping down his face from the corner of his mouth, the boy glared right back at him. 

"Tough Luck? Tough luck!" The boy yelled, "My entire life it one shitty joke! My dad divorced my mom and took all our fucking money! My sister is constantly drunk off her ass and last time I talked to her we argued so much I never want to see her again. My own mother is delusional in bed and I'm stuck paying the bills. Ever worked twenty four hours without any sleep? I don't have any friends! I don't do homework! And someone broke into my house two nights ago and took everything! Wanna talk tough luck?! Come on! I'll talk tough luck after I rearrange your face!"

Leo gritted his teeth, "What are you waiting for?!"

"JASON! LEO!" Both boys stopped and glared over at the door. One of the prettiest girls Leo had ever seen stood there arms crossed glaring like Leo should feel bad for saying anything. 

Leo huffed and turned back to his project which the head phones were sparking unconventionally. He pocketed Festus, for safe keeping around these freaks. Jason wiped more of his own blood off his chin.

"Still not fixing that car." Leo said stubbornly, "nothing you can say-"

"One 'A train' ticket, midnight, Christmas eve, to Canada." The girl said.

Leo paused. His heart skipped a beat. There was no way she could've known that.

"Just fix the car. And it's yours." The girl whispered.

"Piper, you don't have to...-" Jason started but she shut him up with a glare.

"Just fix the car." 

Leo's fingers itched. He could fix it. For free basically. 'A train'. Midnight. He'd be gone before anyone noticed. In time for Christmas. The head phone wires sparked together in his hands catching flame with a burst of light.

Leo yelled and dropped it fanning off his burning fingertips. He grabbed his cup of water off the table, throwing it on the mini flames. It puttered out leaving Leo shaking his hand wildly. 

He turned to Piper and Jason, pulling a screwdriver from his toolbelt pocket, with a grim expression. "Have the ticket in my locker, locker 009, Monday morning. Just slip it through the vent holes. Your car will be done tomorrow morning depending on the rain."


	12. Frank

The air was damp with morning fog. A smell of recent rain and upturned earth. The sounds of civilization, of cars screeching, people yelling, even kids laughing at this early hour sounded like they were a million miles away.

The walk was cement looking so much like a normal side walk it hurt. On either side were rows and rows, of other people. Dead people. But other people. Some had flowers, weather bent and mushed, others had little flags which had been soaked and collapsed. Real patriotic.

Frank tried not to think, about anything. His throat already tightened so he wasn't sure if he'd be able to even speak once he got there, and the petals were fluttering off the flowers in his hand like flecks of snow. He'd only seen one other person in the entire graveyard. A girl in a yellow flower dress with frizzing long hair, held back with a flower pin, and golden eyes, staring with a watery gaze at another tombstone.

Frank had never felt more alone in his life.

His feet left the sidewalk, and his sneakers sunk into the most ground. It made a sickly squishing sound as he walked the last couple steps.

He knew exactly where this grave was. And in the year that it had been, he'd never visited until today. The memory of the burial didn't fade, it didn't even leave his mind for a second. You don't forget putting flowers on your mother's grave.

Frank stood there.

"Hey."

He didn't get an answer not that he expected one. His voice was tight, and he had to force the words out.

"Mom." He gazed down at his feet. His chest hurt.

"Oh, Damnit!" Frank just yelled. He fell to his knees splattering his jeans with wet, cold, mud. He was never good with words, or actions or anything for that matter. Tears began falling and he let them go.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." He chanted brokenly. "I'm sorry I didn't look up when you went out. I'm sorry I didn't cry at the service. I'm sorry I punched your cousin's, uncle's, brother's, daughter's cousin or whoever that guy was in the face at the after service. I'm sorry I haven't come till now."

The flowers lay covered in mud, discarded. His mother never liked Lilacs anyway.

"I just couldn't do it." He whispered, "I couldn't bare to know that you really are gone."

"They're never really gone you know."

Frank felt as another person at next to him. The girl he saw earlier, in the yellow flower dress that must have cost a fortune sitting next to him in the mud.

"Everyone keeps saying that." Frank sniffled, "That she's still with me, in my heart. That she's watching over me. How do you know?"

"I think, sometimes, you can just feel it." She said.

"I never even really said goodbye." Frank choked, "She left to go grocery shopping, I barely looked up from my book. Four hours later, two guys appeared on my door step telling me she wasn't coming home. Like it was the worse Christmas present ever."

He it all so clearly. It felt like it happened yesterday. A shard of his own heart killing him from the inside out. She left with a smile on her lips her dark hair pulled back in a flawless pony tail, and purse in her hand. She'd been buying for Christmas dinner, and Frank had been reading in depth a book on the French revolution.

He remembered looking up at the clock half an hour later and shrugging his shoulders. Two hours later and he'd brought out the gift he'd bought for his mother, the newest book in the romance series she liked to read in her spare time and wrapped it in golden paper with a green bow on top. He placed it under the tree next to the present she had for him.

He could still feel his heart breaking from when the doorbell rang, and he opened the door. The grim faces of the police officers. _"I'm sorry sir, but she's not coming home. Your grandmother has agreed to take you in..."_ They said as if that would make it all better.

Frank had ripped the Christmas tree over, the glass ornaments and tinsel, crashing to the ground the Angel on top of the tree, the one his mother loved so much having been passed down for generations broke. It's face shattered into the carpet, one wing snapped off.

Only one thing survived from that, the present his mom left for him. It was still sitting in the drawer of his desk wrapped and untouched, because it hurt too much to do anything else with it.

The police officers had told him to calm down, not to freak out. They looked so...so...robotic. So unsympathetic.

"People suck, don't they." The girl mused.

"Yeah. Sometimes they care too much. Sometimes not enough. They say the wrong things at the wrong times, and do stupid things. They forget the important things. They move away, they go away, they... die. Stupid people. They do suck." Frank agreed.

"They say mean things, or they don't say anything at all. They stand and watch things they should be stopping. They laugh at things that are serious. They Talk about things they can't even begin to understand. They pretend like everything is alright in a world that's not...Life sucks."

They looked at each other.

"Was your mom a war veteran?" She asked softly, a ray of sun catching through the fog and hitting her in a beautiful golden aura.

Frank nodded letting his head drop. "She was home for the holidays. She died in a car crash of all the stupid things..."

The girl pulled the flower from her hair and placed it gently on the grave.

The girl lay her head on his shoulder. It wasn't like she was leaving on him. Almost like giving her support. Frank didn't know how, or why, but he didn't move. It felt...nice. This girl was nice.

Frank didn't feel so alone anymore.

He could imagine his mother leaning on top of her own grave stone, smiling at him. Not angry because he hadn't visited, not sad because he was crying, not disappointed because he was failing English.

But smiling because her little boy was sitting here with a little girl, and for the first time in a year he felt at peace. He hoped she was at peace too. And he kinda just felt it, for a brief moment a rifle of calm wind blew through the air almost like a hand ruffling his hair.

Then the calm the was ruined with a sound of a ringtone. A couple lyrics of some absurd song, that made the girl blush extremely hard.

"Sorry!" She squeaked. She quickly pulled out her phone an age old, slide key board type. "How did she even get my number?!"

"Who?"

"My...friend, Piper." She said, "She wants to take me and her crush to the movies. Would you...Would you like to come?"

"Uh... I don't know. When is it?"

"Probably eight o'clock, nine-ish." She said nervously playing with her hair.

"Sure I guess." Frank said, checking his watch to see if he still had time to study at the diner afterward, like every night.

"Awesome!" She typed back on her phone, rapidly, before looking down at her clothes. "I should probably change."

Frank smiled slightly.

"I'm Hazel," She said, with a small smile, standing up.

"Frank." He said. Her smile flashed a little bigger.

"I'll see you at the movie theater, Frank." She said and then she disappeared into the fog.

Frank turned back to the tombstone in front of him and he couldn't help but think of how beautiful the name Hazel was.


	13. Percy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haha, The plot finally got interesting

If Percy had known his night would end in flames, literally, he might've stayed home and taken the beating.

He went out for lunch, or rather lunchtime because he wasn't going to risk angering Gabe to get money for food. So about 1 o'clock Percy snuck out of his house. It wasn't an ideal afternoon. It was cloudy and gray fog lingered from the thunderstorm last night. Even so families were out Christmas shopping; Percy could hear the kid's excited squeals after every row of toys.

He ducked into the nearest store, a Wal-Mart. After walking for so long in the cool air, the hot breeze was so enjoyable, Percy almost considered staying right there. But then an old guy with a shopping car nearly ran him over and Percy decided against it.

He wore his hood up, trying to cover the huge bruise on his cheek. His wrist was throbbing and his other shoulder hurt whenever he moved it. He walked with a limp. Luckily his ribs had semi healed and it only hurt a tiny bit to breathe.

Still it was better than staying home and being his step father's punching bag.

The Wal-Mart smelled like Christmas pine trees for some reason, and peppermint wafted from the Dunkin Donuts that had an in-store shop there. The signs boldly proclaimed new lowest deals, and free coffee with a box of a dozen Christmas donuts.

Wrapping paper was stacked in rows in the front of the store, like toy soldiers waiting to fire upon the enemy. Winter jackets were on sale for the season with screaming crying children being dragged around trying on endless amounts of clothes.

The corners of Percy's mouth flickered up for a moment, remembering the years of winter where his own mother battled through the monsters of price tags and heavy fabric just to find the prefect jacket for him.

Then Percy remembered the look of his mom the night before. Her pale, skinny figure. Her hair brittle and dying. Her lips stood out a thick pink against the colorless background. Her throat had made a scratchy rasping sound, like a dried up cough when ever she breathed. She had more needles poking out her than a human porcupine. It made Percy cry looking at her. She'd never done anything wrong, not even a speeding ticket. She'd use to make sugar chokes and dye them blue just for him.

It disgusted Percy that someone would do this to someone else. You couldn't be human. Then the first day Percy and Gabe got to see her came around. Something inside of Gabe must have snapped. And a couple punches, a couple broken vases, and two blackouts...Percy never was the same.

Never was the same.

"Hey, you don't look so good, man." Someone said, putting a light grip on his shoulder as Percy attempted to walk by the camping isle. Percy winced involuntarily.

The guy recoiled surprised. He wore a hiking outfit, with hikers boots, an orange T Shirt, cargo shirts, and a red baseball cap over short, curly hair. He had a slight goatee thing going on.

"I'm fine." Percy said through gritted teeth.

"Like Hell you are man!" The guy went to pull down Percy's hood for a better look at bruise on his face. Percy quickly reached up snapping the fabric back down. In his hurry his sweat shirt sleeve slipped up revealing his bandaged wrist.

"I said I'm fine!" Percy snapped..

"Grover, look what I- Oh my gods!" A small girl in a similar outfit appeared next to Percy holding a box of protein bars. She had long orange-red hair that curled at the ends and brilliant green eyes. Almost unnatural, her skin glowed a pale green, like she was part of a tree or something.

"Are you alright, sir?" She asked, dropping the box of protein food. "How did this happen?"

"I said I'm fine, it was a stupid skateboarding accident." Percy said again. He turned away before the weird couple could ask any more questions. He stomped towards the food section of the Wal-Mart, hoping they wouldn't follow.

The food section was less crowded than the toy section. Percy was slightly surprised, five days till Christmas and no one was buying turkeys?

That and of course it was Sunday so not a lot of people were out shopping.

Percy strolled through the store trying not to look suspicious. Once or twice he looked at a boxes of something random causally leaning against the shelves. His chest hurt like crazy, he had no idea why.

About an hour or two odd roaming endlessly with no direction, Percy left the Wal-Mart. The sky seemed a little darker but that was it. The air smelt a little fresher and it was quieter.

He didn't expect to be pulled back and seated heavily on a bench.

Percy was slightly shocked and didn't even realize what was happening. The guy from the camping isle pulled down his hood and looked at the bruise like he was some type of doctor.

"Skateboarding accident, my ass, buddy." He said, "Someone punched you!"

"Hey!" Percy batted his hand away, "Back off! It's none of your business!"

"As part of the Child Abuse Protection program, it is!"

"No it's not." Percy said, getting up, "Because it's not child abuse, I'm not a child. And aren't you a little young to be apart of that?"

"I'm getting married in the Spring." The guy said, "No I'm not too young! And don't change the subject!"

"What subject?" Percy asked, "Goodbye!" He started walking away, hurriedly. His fingers gripping his oversized sleeve vigorously.

"What?! Wait a second!" The guy caught up with him easily, much to Percy's annoyance.

"Can't you just go?" Percy asked, "I would like to enjoy the rest of my afternoon. Thank you very much."

The guy let out an exasperated sigh, "Here," he shoved a small business card Percy, "Give us a call when you're ready to admit it."

"Admit what? I don't have a problem." Percy insisted. The guy set his jaw, like he was disappointed or something and turned away.

Percy kept walking, he didn't even want to look at the card. It was dangerous. Not only for him but everyone else too. It was a blank cars mostly, no fancy colors or crazy font. A name in bold, **Grover Underwood,** and a phone number underneath.

Percy looked back at the guy, who was standing with the girl, probably his fiancè, next to a small black car with the licenses plate: MSOLEARY.

He seemed to be distraught, like he actually genuinely cared about Percy. Then the girl reached up and kissed him.

Percy turned away after that. It hurt to watch other people be happy. It hurt to know he could never let anyone come close. He never would find his true match. Because of Gabe. He'd hurt them, hurt him. And no matter how far Percy tried to run, he knew he could never get away.

Percy wanted to rip up the card and toss it the nearest trashcan. But he couldn't do it. He couldn't make himself do it. So he put the card in his pocket. And he kept walking.

He turned towards the central park. Letting his mind go blank as he strolled down the empty paths. In the cold air no one seemed to want to be outside. The mini playground looked abandoned, a couple swings moving gently with the breeze. Percy found one of the trees, his favorite from before his Mom was hospitalized. He took a deep breath and tugged the branch inching himself into the tree.

He remembered when his mom use to take him out to play here when he was little, he would run around with his friends. But Selina and Beckford moved away years ago. Sometimes Percy wondered if they even remembered him, and the times they spent playing astronaut, or jungle safari, or deep sea with sharks.

"You know there's a sign that says, "no climbing", right?"

Percy looked down surprised to see a dark haired girl glaring up at him.

"Yeah." Percy said.

The girl smiled with the corner of her lips. She grabbed the opposite branch on the other side of the tree trunk and hoisted herself up, no problem.

"I'm Reyna." She said.

"Percy."

"You live around here, Percy?"

"Uh...yeah. I use to come here with my mom when I was little."

"Oh. What happened?"

"My mom's...in critical support."

"I'm sorry."

"She'll get better. She'll get better." Percy said, though he was trying to convince himself more than this girl. "What about you? What are you doing out here in this cold?"

"Just looking for a way to kill time. My sister's busy with her business plan working with her friends to start a new shipping organization. My best friend...well were not really talking at the moment. Besides he's busy at his job."

"Oh. Me too pretty much. Just trying to kill some time."

So that's what happened. They killed time together. They talked, Percy edged around the personal life questions. They leaned against the trunk of the tree laughed about random things. The sky got darker. Some people walked by and a couple kids played on the playground for a little bit.

By the time Percy checked his watch he could barely see. The cold settled in, with a briskly awakening. It was almost eight, and Percy thought he should probably go.

"Bye, Reyna." He said, "Thanks for killing time with me."

It was hard to tell but Reyna smiled in the darkness. "Bye."

Percy lowered himself off the tree branch, onto the ground, careful not to hit his bruises. He glanced up where Reyna's spot was illuminated with a soft glow of a phone. And without another word Percy trudged back down parks paths heading for his neighborhood.

He took the main sidewalk back, afraid of what could happen on the back roads. It wasn't like he had any money. But the Monsters didn't do it for money. They did it for fun. And they never got caught.

Percy glanced around. Weird. Almost for a second there he could've sworn he heard a sound almost like gunshots...

Then something slammed into him hard. Percy yelped and he slammed backwards to the ground.

In the golden street light, he could see the person who'd running into him, a girl with aching familiarity. The same one who's run into him at school and hadn't even apologized. Even now she didn't seem to realize she'd actually run into anyone. He face was a panic looking behind her with tears streaming down her face.

"Hey!" Percy said, "What the Hell-?"

The rest of what he was going to say was swallowed in the distinct sound of gunshots now. Closer and louder. And the sound of a lot of feet on the city sidewalk. One of the closer alleys was alight like someone was lighting the row of apartment buildings on fire.

"Monsters..." Percy gulped. He struggled to his knees his hip hurting really bad, and he reached down to help the girl. He winced seeing a long cut running down her cheek, like someone had carved her with a dagger.

"Come on!" Percy tugged her in the way he'd come back to the park. He figured they could hide out in the trees or maybe even find Reyna and call for help. This girl was frantically moving her hands. What was she ADHD, or something?

She looked at him as if trying to see if he understood something. Her cheeks were sick with tears, her grey eyes stormy with frustration. Her blond curls in tangles like she'd didn't the night sleeping on streets. Who knows? Maybe she did.

"THERE THE BRAT IS!" Something huge jumped in front of them. Was it possible for a person to be that big? Percy didn't wait to find out.

He grabbed the girls wrist and pulled her out of the way of a swing that would've possibly taken off her head. How was this girl not screaming? This was incredibly terrifying. Something narrowly missed his head.

Gunshots rang out like Christmas bells. Yells screamed out at them, none of them friendly. Percy darted into the road dived away from a car that totally ran over a member of the Monsters.

Percy served away from the sidewalk. It was like there endless supply of these people. The red eye logo was burned into Percy's mind.

The pathways to the park were completely blocked off, by growing forms with metal blades and a couple with guns. Why did they want this girl so bad? Percy glanced at her breathing heavily, his chest burning with pain. He knew right then, no matter what happened, _he would never let them hurt this girl._

The girl next to him pointed down the block where the movie theater was flashing. Metal ricocheted off the brick building nearby. Percy yelled out. He jumped behind the girl shoving her towards the flashing building as pain erupted in the small of his back. Percy forced her forward more.

"Go!" He roared at her. Instead she grabbed his wrist both of them, which hurt, and she partially dragged him with her.

_Why was she doing this?_

They burst into the Movie Theater running right past the ticket stand. The guy who'd been running it, a tall built guy with the black nametag Chris, protested. But neither of them slowed. They ended up slamming against the refreshment counter knocking into a big girl with a giant container of popcorn.

"Watch it, Prissy!" She grunted.

"Oh I'm watching it alright." Percy yelled looking at the glass doors. The other people in the theater were starting to notice. A sea of threatening figures stood outside yelling and waving weapons. Someone screamed. Every single person out there wore a black T shirt and the red eye logo.

"We're gonna die!" Someone yelled.

Then one of the doors opened and someone from the crowd threw something in. A small baseball sized sphere. Percy gasped for air falling to his knees.

Then all he saw was orange and red as the grenade exploded into flames.


	14. Jason

It wasn't suppose to be a horror movie. Jason didn't like horror movies. The blood and the guts and the flashy explosions were never his style. 

But even as Leo grabbed his arm and Piper screamed and Hazel grabbed onto Frank like they were connected, Jason had a terrifying epiphany. His life had just become a horror story.

It started at about six o'clock. Jason headed to the school parking lot. The walk was long and slightly cold. He hushed in his jacket annoyed that he could see his own breath in the air. 

The parking lot was mostly empty, except for his car and a couple of the teachers cars. When he got there a funny noise was coming from the front of the car.

He was supposed to see Leo whistling and working under with the hood up. The small kid didn't seemed to mind the cold happily whistling away. The weird, half burned Dragon thing was clipped to his shoulder. Leo had grease smeared on his face and his mechanic goggles on his forehead almost like a head band. 

"Oh hey." He said without looking up he tapped something inside the car with his screwdriver and smiled. 

Jason's lip hurt still. Annoyingly. Piper had told him that's what he got from trying to steal from the impish Latino with a stapler. 

"You know usually when you need a car fixed, you leave the keys with the mechanic." Leo said pulling a towel from his waistband, tool belt that always seemed to wear cleaning his hands.

"Sorry." Jason said. 

"Would you like to do the honors?"Leo motioned to the drivers door. Jason nodded and he opened the side door. He inserted his keys and turned the ignition. The car purred to life, and Jason let out a grateful sigh. Leo let out a "Whoop!" and did a small victory dance. 

"Still got it!" He yelled. And Jason couldn't help but frown. 

"Thanks, Leo, seriously." Jason said, "but can I ask you a question?"

"You just did, but whatever." Leo said picking up his assortment of tools from off the ground.

"Why do you need a train ticket to Canada?"

Leo froze for a moment weighing a wrench in his hand, almost as if debating whether or not to use it to hit Jason in the face again. But finally Leo sighed and dropped the tool in with the rest his equipment in his tool box. 

"I'm not comfortable here." Leo said, "This place just isn't my style. It's not like anyone would miss me anyway."

Jason frown deepened. "What about your family? Friends?"

Leo laughed, though it was painfully forced, "My dad hadn't shown his face to me in like...ever, and my friends are non-existent."

"What about your mom?" 

It seemed to be a sore spot for Leo. His forced smiled dropped off entirely. "She's dead." Leo looked away for a second and a grim smiled appeared, "but my foster Parents though, I'd like to see their faces when I don't come home for Christmas. Stinking Bastards don't even care a little bit..."

Jason's fingers tightened a little over the steering wheel. He opened his mouth to say something, but got cut off by the weirdest noise ever. Leo raised an eyebrow.

"It's not the car." He said.

Jason dug his phone from his pocket, a text message lighting up the screen. His phone vibrated once more and the engine ended abruptly.

"How did she even get my number?" Jason asked quizzically. He opened the message from Piper, sighing a bit. 

Movies tonite? You game? Just Me and a friend and you? Eight or nine-ish?

Jason glanced at his cars clock. He leaned his head on the steering wheel.

"What's up?" Leo asked.

"Piper wants to hang out at the movies."

"Like a...date?" Leo grinned cheekily. "Aren't you two a couple already?"

"Uh no." Jason looked up at Leo, "Why would you asked that?"

"No reason." Leo whistled innocently, "What's the problem?"

"I've got work in ten minutes. I don't get off until seven tonight. After that, movies is the last thing I want."

Leo whistled pulling out a wrench, "that's a lot of hours. Hope your getting paid for all of them." Leo raised an eyebrow again when Jason didn't say anything. Then he went back to his wrench, pulling out a towel to clean it, "Then don't go."

"But I really like Piper. She's nice and funny and I don't know, she makes me feel funny inside." 

Leo sighed dramatically, "Other people are weird. Girls especially. See, Festus here?" He motioned to the Dragon on his shoulder like it was a real thing, "Festus gets me. He understands when I talk about mechanics and doesn't have those strange, unpredictable emotions."

"Festus is a statue." Jason said lamely.

Leo shrugged, as if the subject of his Dragon didn't really matter. Jason wondered if Leo actually knew the Dragon was a statue. "I don't know what to tell you, man."

"Then how about you come with me?"

Leo dropped the wrench. "Come again?"

"Yeah, why don't you come with me? Piper's bringing a friend, why can't I bring one, too?" Jason smiled warming to his own idea.

"No way!" Leo said, "I don't do movies, or friends or popcorn-"

Thirteen and a half hours later Jason dragged Leo in through the glass doors of the movie theater and he was still complaining.

"-or candy, or soda, or stupid movies with obnoxious meaningless explosions-"

"Hey Piper!" Jason couldn't help but grin, despite his feet hurting like crazy. Dakota had called out again, leaving just him and Katie against hours of people at the diner. Jason didn't understand it. Piper could just make him feel different by smiling.

"Hey, Jason!" She said, "and Leo!"

"Hi." Leo said grumpy. "Can I go now?"

"You guys just got here! Besides were just waiting on Hazel and she'll be here any minute."

Leo turned a pale white, even with his tanned skin. "H-Hazel?"

"Hey guys!" Hazel appeared, looking more or less exactly the same as she had the first day Jason had met her. She let her hair down, and wore a purple SPQR shirt from the Rome trip Reyna had gone on. Interesting. She also wore a black leather jacket and was smiling widely.

Or at least was until her eyes landed on Leo.

A bigger guy was following her, a Chinese Canadian guy, with an uneasy smile. That turned to a frown when he also saw Leo.

"Leo?" Hazel asked which came out as a whisper.

"Hazel." Leo said stiffly.

"Your that guy that ran out of the Science room, leaving me to do the entire project!" The other guy accused.

"Alright I'm going." Leo said, "Nope, nope this is not happening, tonight!" Leo tried to leave but Jason grabbed his hood and yanked him back. Leo letting out a choking moan and turned back rubbing his neck.

"Well, it's a small world." Piper said cheerfully. "How about we go pick out a movie?" She clapped her hands together like she didn't notice the tension in the air. But Jason could see she was just trying to stop a fight before one actually broke out.

The guy running the ticket stand barely noticed they were there. He was busy watching some girl getting popcorn at another counter. 

"Uh, hey?" Piper snapped he fingers in front of the guy and he broke out of his trance.

"Uh, huh? Oh hey, I'm Chris how can I help you?" The guy asked, his eyes flickering back to the girl getting popcorn.

"Yeah we were wandering what movies were playing?" Piper said.

"Night of the Living Undead seems to be a popular one right now." Chris said, "and The Christmas Seasons Over, comedy."

"We'll take the Christmas Season comedy." Piper said looking back at the rest of them, "That okay with the rest of you?"

Everyone nodded uneasily. And Hazel stepped forward to pay but Piper pushed her back lightly. 

"Nope I've got this!" Piper said, she handed Chris a credit card and leaned in slightly with a smile.

Chris's eyes went huge when he read the name after scanning it. 

"Say anything and I might have to hurt you." Piper said still smiling, which made it seem all the horrifying. Chris nodded superfluously.

"Of course, Miss. Anything you say Miss." He said

Jason frowned. What could've made him act like that so suddenly?

Piper turned back to them with the tickets, handing one to each of the people in the group. Leo looked at his and frowned even more.

"Why does mine say child, five and below!?" He asked. Jason couldn't help but laugh, as well as Piper, and Hazel and the other guy. 

"I don't know!" Piper laughed. "Cause your short?"

"Haha, really funny guys!" Leo huffed though he was shaking with an effort not to laugh, himself. 

"Okay so guys, I wanted to introduce, Frank." Hazel said, "I kinda invited him along, duh. Sorry about that."

"No problem." Piper grinned, "The more the merrier!"

Frank smiled and waved at everyone, except Leo. It was almost pointedly that Frank didn't look at Leo. 

"Oh my Gods!" Hazel cried, "It's that new poster for the new movie Spartan! With the lead actor Tristan McLean!" She pointed at one of the bazillion posters in the store.

Piper stiffened, and her eyes went wide. "Uh...hehe...Yeah, does anyone want refreshments?" She seemed incessantly eager to change the subject. 

"Tristan McLean is like one of my favorite actors!" Hazel said excitedly, "He sounds like a totally awesome person. I read he goes skiing in the Alps in the winter, and sandboarding in the summer. Plus he spends a fortune giving to charity and orphanages! I almost wish he was my dad..."

"You wouldn't think that way if you lived with him!" Piper snapped. Jason and everyone looked shocked at her sudden outburst. She glared deeply, before retaining her happy-go-lucky state, with a smile.

"Refreshments?" She asked stiffly.

And that was when two people ran through the doors. Chris yelled out, but the two didn't stop. The girl wore a gray sweatshirt, and the boy a blue one. It looked like the girl was mostly carrying him. Jason could see a giant bruise sporting on the boys cheek, his dark hair restless like he'd just been wearing his hood.

What were they running from?

Hazel screamed, pointing towards the doors. Jason felt his heart stop for a moment. The street was filled with screaming people wearing red and black shirts. The red eye logo. The Monsters. The boy collapsed to his knees gasping.

"We're going to die!" Chris yelled, jumping over the ticket stand and backing away from the doors.

Then one of the doors opened and something rolled in, a small baseball sized thing.

"GET DOWN!" Leo screamed he shoved Jason to the side, knocking over Piper and they both toppled to the ground. Before Jason could protest, the entire room was bathed in a heat flash. Jason yelled out, he could feel Piper scream under him. The sound of explosions filled Jason's ears until he thoughts they were going to explode. Fire leapt around the room. 

"Chris!" The girl that the ticket stand guy had been watching dropped her popcorn. Jason gasped. The ticket stand guy was laying his body covered in nasty burns and he didn't move. Leo had been knocked into a column he was slumped into a heap moaning. Frank and Hazel crawled warily from behind an arcade game inside the arcade they'd been standing by. 

Jason got up,to his knees looking around. The fire was filling the air with smoke. He looked back at Piper. 

"We need to get out of here!" He said, "There should be an exit in the back! Get Leo! I'm going to go get everyone else!"

Piper had tears falling down her face, but she nodded. Jason hadn't realized but he did, too. Then she did something incredible. Piper grabbed his collar and slammed her lips onto his.

It wasn't the best kiss ever. Amazingly. But as far as first kisses, in burning buildings, while the air was filling with toxins and crazy gangs were yelling outside, it was spot on.

Piper pulled away, giving him once last look something that said something along the lines of please don't die. And she ran over to Leo, helping him up with Frank and Hazel. Jason was suddenly very happy he brought the short elf with him, because if not Piper and him would be really terrible art paintings on the wall.

Jason leaped over to where the girl and Chris were, at the edge the fire, smoke fumed right his face. The girl was coughing loudly. She was slowly dragging Chris away. Jason covered his mouth with his shirt, he grabbed Chris's arm, the poor guy moaned. 

"No!" The girl yelled over the crackling fire, "I've got him! Help the others!"

Jason didn't argue. Gunshots echoed through the fire. The sound of glass smashing caused Jason to hurry a little more. His eyes watered extensively. 

The girl was tapped against the wall behind the counter, the boy was laying unconscious in a pile of popcorn. Someone was towering over the girl. With a gun pointed at her and the red eye logo on their shirt. Jason tackled the figure to the side causing the shot to go wild, cracking against the tiled wall. The girl made a look that was like screaming but no sound came. 

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Jason yelled at her. 

The figure under Jason reached for his gun but Jason slapped it into darkness. The figure screamed, a girly scream. She kicked him off of her sending Jason's head slamming into the counter. 

His head blurred, everything flung sideways. Jason forced himself back up. He coughed the oxygen sending thinner now. The girl found the gun pointing it at the other blond girls retreating form, weighed down with the unconscious boy. Jason kicked her in the side. 

She hissed as him, a growl of frustration. Then she the herself at him kicking his head against the counter again and again. 

Jason yelled out. The girl growled, her they abnormally sharpened like she was part demon. She looked like she was going to tear him apart limb from limb...and enjoy it. 

"Kellie! Come on!" Someone else yelled, the girl slammed Jason's head into the counter one more time throwing his body onto the ground before disappearing into the smoke.

Jason coughed wildly. His vision was dimming. Everything growing black. He could feel the heat of the flames just beyond the counter. His head had the ground, his eyes closed and despite everything he tried, Jason couldn't get himself up. 

Someone yelled out, something lifted him up. Jason fell into darkness, and he wasn't sure he would ever wake up.

"No no no, Jase!" Some one said in his ear, "come on! Lil' bro! Stay with me!"

Then Jason blacked out entirely.


	15. Frank

Outside was chaos. More than chaos. Everyone was yelling, someone was screaming, Frank's ears were ringing. Piper was crying. Hazel wouldn't leave his side. Leo was moaning his head donned a new bruise in the back. He'd barely known Jason for five minutes and the guy hadn't come out yet. Smoke billowed into the sky.

Ambulances wailed their sirens. Police cars were every where. Frank recognized the girl who's come running in with the boy. The mute girl who he met at the library.

Something bad must have happened. Something really ready bad. Jason hadn't come out. Neither had the mute girl. The girl that had been carrying the ticket stand guy, Chris, had charged through the back door coughing as she fell to the ground. The medics immediately took them to an ambulance. Piper had tried running back into the burning building, and was still screaming against the police.

They'd threatened to sedate her if she didn't calm down.

Frank gripped Hazel's hand, like a reassurance in this crazy mess.

The monsters had dispersed as soon as the grenade went off. Only a couple stayed but they left when the last police car showed up. None of them got caught. Frank didn't ready care at the moment. He kinda liked the fact he was breathing and alive more.

Frank held his breath waiting for Jason to come out. Hazel had silent tears down her face. Frank gave her hand a squeeze, a failed conniving attempt.

Two people ran through the crowd going completely through the police tape. People yelled at them, but they didn't seem to care.

They both wore black, but the girl had bright blue highlights to match.

"Jason!" She screamed, "Jase!"

Frank had no clue who this girl was, but she shoved off an oppressive officer and charged into the building.  The boy who'd come with her, let his yell die in his throat. His eyes looked tired like he hadn't slept in a couple nights.

An officer grabbed the boys arm roughly like it was all his fault for the explosion. And dragged him towards one of the cars.

Leo crawled to where they were, his head bandaged with white gauze. His eyes were glazed, and he bit his lip.

"Damnit, Jason. Come on!" Leo muttered, what everyone was thinking. Where was he?

Frank leapt to his feet. Smoke poured out the door, but someone trudged through it. They collapsed to the ground, with the dark fog rolling of them. It was a girl. The mute girl with the boy that had run in right before the bomb.

The medics ran up taking the boy gently and expertly to the ambulance, the girl was put an oxygen mask. She looked like she was crying, but no sound came out. The medics were taking to her asking questions and she couldn't reply.

"JASON!" Piper screamed again. Flames devoured the building. With a horrendous crash the front of the building caved in and the entire place was coated in debris and smoke.

Hazel gasped and turned to cry into Frank's shoulder. Leo clenched his hands into fists, hanging his head. Piper sobbed. Where the Hell were the firefighters?

Then Frank gasped, the side window off the building exploded outward. Two figures went tumbling to the ground rolling over each other. Second later the rest of the building dropped to the ground. Both figures were covered in soot and debris.

One raised her head, the girl who'd gone running into the fire. She looked ready to pass out. The doctors grabbed her and the other figure pulling them to the medical camp they set up.

Piper sobbed harder, Hazel looked up to the sky muttering some type of thank you prayer. Leo sighed with relief and fell over.

Jason was unconscious. His hair dark enough to be coal with the amount of soot in it. His head was messy with...was that blood?! His skin was pale, like he was already a corpse.

"Oh my Gods." Frank mumbled,  His voice cracked. Frank couldn't even say anything more. He felt like he just been disconnected from the world.

They'd just almost died.

He just almost died.

"Please, Miss, just use words!" Frank looked up from nearby. The mute girl was crying, her blond hair strewn all over the place. One of the medics, a volunteer guy, frustratedly, was trying to clean out the long dagger mark on her face. She was attempting to push him away, out tell him something with her hands.

Police. Important. Monsters.

Frank remembered his mother sitting him down one day. At a diner, she called the blond waiter over and ordered two hot chocolates, and looked back at Frank very seriously.

She started moving her hands and Frank was confused. They spent the rest of the day talking in sign language. And ever other weekend they'd go and work on the sign language, wether Frank wanted to or not. He used to hate those weekends, the only time he despised hanging with his mother.

"Why do I have to learn this stupid stuff?" Frank grumbled one running a finger along the rim off his hot chocolate cup.

"It will help you one day, Frank." His mother had said, "Now ask me what my favorite color is."

It hurt to remember. It hurt to think about it. After the crash, Frank never missed a day of going to that same diner. He studied, he cried, he never forgot. He signed [I love you] at his mother's funeral when words abandoned him.

Frank watched the girl sign.

He got up and Hazel, who had stated hysterically crying fell next to Leo, who'd seemed to have forgotten to get up. He felt his throat close up slightly, as he got closer.

The girl was shoving the medic away and the guy was yelling something at her.

"She wants you to stop." Frank read the girls signs, "Go check her friend."

The volunteer looked at him, a red glow around him as he ran a hand through his hair. "You can tell her that I can't it's my responsibility to make sure she's okay!"

Frank grabbed the guy and turned him to face the girl again, "She can hear you."

The guy groaned glaring at the sky, "Why won't she just talk?!"

Frank ducked down right as she punched. The girl knocked her fist right into the volunteers face with a sickening crack. The medic stumbled backwards, cursing.

"She's mute, you insensitive, ingrate!" Frank said, glaring at him. "She's been trying to and you haven't been watching!"

The guy muttered something, he covered his nose and hurried away blood dripping to the grass through the gaps in his fingers. Frank wrinkled his nose at the sulfuric smell. Dozens of flashes lit up the night, cameras of the paparazzi.

"Nice hit." Frank commented, the girl looked ready to hug him. "So what's going on?" He said it causally but he could barely keep from falling over sobbing uncontrollably.

The girl was a blur of motions that made Frank's head spin.

"Whoa, whoa!" Frank called grabbing her hands to slow them down, "I can't read that fast. Please slow down, calm down."

She blew a piece of her hair out of her eyes looking around nervously. Then she started again.

"The Monsters...they attacked you? At the dinner...that night at the library. Right?" Frank looked up at her, her stormy eyes looked scarred. But she kept a straight face. "You never made it back home that night, did you? They kidnapped you. How'd you get out, are you okay? Is that why they were trying to kill you two?"

She glared over at the ambulance were the boy in the blue hoodie was being treated, people were screaming and Frank winced at the commotion. The girl had tears in her eyes.

"Not him." Frank realized, "Just you."

Frank thought back to how she'd come carrying the boy in and the gunshots and the boy toppled to the ground right before the grenade blew.

"He jumped in front of a bullet." Frank whispered, "He saved you, and now he's..." The girl pulled her knees up to her chest.

"Do you know why they were trying to kill you?"

The girl took a deep breath, and her fingers danced in the air.

"You heard something? No sorry, saw something?" Frank glanced at her face for clarification. She nodded, and motioned again. Frank gasped, feeling his knees go weak, he grabbed the ambulances bumper to keep himself upright.

"You saw the leaders face." Frank whispered, "The actual leader. Of the Monsters. Are you sure? What did he look like? Who was it?"

The girl swallowed making a quick flick of her wrist that Frank didn't recognize. Her eyes went wide, and she slid back against the medical vans stretcher inside.

"What?" Frank asked, worriedly. The girl opened her mouth in a expression that said she was screaming.

"Excuse me, sir." Frank whipped around surprised. A police officer stood there his suit tall and polished, he held up a badge with the official police logo. He had a crooked smile, and dark eyes. Something about the guy set Frank's nerves on edge. Especial after the girls reaction to him.

His name badge was pinned professionally over the left pocket on his chest.

"Sir, I'd like to borrow Miss Annabeth Chase for interrogation. We have several reports of her and another young boy identified as Perseus Jackson running into the movie theater right before the explosion." The man said, his voice had a strange cold tone to it his eyes never left the girl, Annabeth's, eyes. Annabeth seemed to be trying to tell him something again. But this time with her eyes and not hands.

"Uh, sir, I don't believe Annabeth had a thing to do with the explosion. She's just another victim." Frank said.

"Duly noted, Mr. Zhang." Frank was startled that this officer knew his name. "If Miss Chase, refuses to come I have orders to use force."

"Who's orders?"

The police officer, turned to look at him with cold eyes. Frank felt as if he'd just been plunged into a cold vat of water filled with electric eels.

"Sir, please step aside." The officer said. "If you do not then I will be forced to arrest you."

Frank swallowed hard he glanced at the nametag again, trying to remember where he'd seen that name before. A cold chill settled on him.

Frank stepped back.

The officer grabbed Annabeth's arm. She opened her mouth like a whimper and the tears flooded down her face. The officer didn't act gentle. He didn't act like an officer.

He tugged Annabeth towards a police car, the same one where the boy who'd accompanied the girl with blue highlights, was currently. The boy in the blue sweatshirt, Perseus, was still in the ambulance, though it looked like the officer would've loved to drag the unconscious boy along too.

Annabeth looked back at him pleadingly. She mouthed two words, making the motion she had earlier again. Frank still didn't recognize it.

But he did know the two words she mouthed.

"Piper!" Frank yelled, running towards the girl who was sobbing next to Jason's ambulance. "I need your phone!"

Frank set his jaw, Annabeth's terrified face as she mouthed help me played over and over again in his mind.

And where had he read the name Luke Castellan lately?

 


	16. Nico

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bare with me please. It'll make sense probably.

He was so totally dead. He'd died and gone where ever outcasted, loner, loser, freaks accused with murdering their sisters went.

Nico could feel the cold metal chafing against his wrists. Where the Hell was he? Why did he hurt so much?

He had just been avoiding Thalia. They'd gone back to his house after the rainstorm, and Thalia spent the night. Nico left her some of Hazel's darker clothes, like a proper gentleman. He stayed out of her way all Saturday, and almost succeeded most of Sunday. He couldn't bring himself to look her in the face since they'd been under that tree. 

It was his fault. Bianca never would've died if he'd just kept his mouth shut. Neither would Luke, Thalia's unattributed love. It was his fault. 

Nico busied himself with hiding the alcohol. He didn't know how long Thalia could go before withdraw kicked in. His dad sometimes came home and would pull out a couple bottles before heading to his study without a word. Before Bianca's death, the Di Angelo household never had any alcohol ever. And this Christmas, Nico thought there was a little bit more than usual.

After that Nico decided to make dinner.

Thalia came downstairs, wringing out her wet hair. She looked away from him, whenever they got near. Nico almost choked. She wasn't wearing the outfit he brought for her.

It was Bianca's stuff.

"You okay?" Thalia asked, then she looked down at black and white, raven and dove T-shirt she was wearing, "Sorry, the outfit you put out didn't fit, so I grabbed one from the next room over. I hope you don't mind."

Nico tried his best to not cry. 

It didn't work.

He'd been carrying a pot of water from the sink to the stove so he could boil some noodles and make pasta, because that was the only thing he could remember how to make. The black pot hit the ground with a huge crash splattering water all over the floor. 

Nico balled his fists bringing them up to his face. His knees went weak and he fell to the floor soaking his clothes.

"Nico!" Thalia yelled, she splashed through the newly made puddle, landing right next to him. Her fingers brushed against his cheek, cool to the touch. "It's the shirt, isn't it? I'll go change-"

"No!" Nico said, "No, I'm sorry, it's just...that was Bianca's." Nico wiped the tears on his sleeve, but they wouldn't stop coming. Thalia pulled him into a hug. 

Nico inhaled deeply, between his sobs. 

"You smell like her." Nico cried. "Like vanilla and peppermint."

Thalia sniffled on his shoulder. Nico could tell she was crying again.

"You almost smell like him, " she whimpered, "Before he started working with the Monsters. He would volunteer at the police station. Always smelled like donuts and leather. "

She attempted a laugh and it came out as a pathetic whimper. 

"We use to joke about that smell. I told him he'd found the perfect job sitting around and eating fattening foods all day. He'd tell me that he'd save one for me. And he did. Every day. He brought back a donut with blue icing, and even if there weren't any donuts in the station, he'd stop by seven-eleven and buy me one."

Somehow that made Nico cry harder. 

"Bianca...She use to talk about impressing the boys at school all the time. She wore perfume that was so strong you could almost taste the vanilla as she walked by." Nico sniffled, "the guys everywhere were always looking at her. Once I switched her perfumes and she had to go to school smelling like a candy cane. She wasn't happy with me."

Nico wiped his tears again. Everything seemed to remind him of her. Her shirts, her perfumes, her voice chided him in his own head, this house was filled with too many memories. His dad was never around anymore. 

Sometimes he forgot she was gone and in the mornings Nico would go running to Bianca's room, which hadn't been touched since the accident. Those mornings were the worse. 

"We should clean up the water." Thalia sniffled. She pulled out of the hug, leaving Nico cold and wet. For a second Nico almost pulled her back into a hug. Thalia made him feel safe again. 

Whole again.

"I'll go get some towels." Thalia said. "You should go get a shower and get new clothes." She wiped a trail of slick tears out from her eyes.

Nico nodded. He didn't fight it as she pulled him to his feet. He actually managed to make it to his room. 

The Di Angelo household was always cold and dark. It was like their one golden flame of life had been snuffed out. Which in a way out had. 

After his shower, Nico ran his hand against the wood grain of the banister as he headed for the kitchen again. Nico was surprised when he found Hazel walking in the hall, looking...happy?

He'd never seen Hazel smile. It was pretty. She was wearing her old clothes, the ones she'd locked in the closet never to be let out. She was looking down at her phone, with wistful eyes, like dreaming of someone far away. 

She glanced at him with a look of mirth in her eyes as she walked by. 

The halls looked brighter with her there. Nico had never noticed before. 

He found Thalia in the kitchen adding spices to the spaghetti. She hummed a song under her breath, and smiled, lightly when she looked up at him. Nico almost smiled back. Instead he found an interest in the marble countertop. 

"Hey, Nico!" Hazel appeared in the doorway, stopping once she saw Thalia, "Uh, hey," Hazel turned back towards him, "I'm heading out for the night. I'll be at the movies with my friends. You going to be okay?"

Nico nodded without looking up from the counter. 

Hazel opened her mouth to say more, but must have thought better of it. She headed towards the door, pausing only once to look back.

He could feel Thalia looking at him but he refused to look up at her. She set a bowl of pasta in front of him, the steaming air ticking his nose. He felt her sit next to him on a bar stool.

He sighed and picked up his fork, poking the noodles.

"Don't worry, it's alcohol free." Thalia said with a bitter tone, "I swear this is like a scotch empty zone."

Nico put down the fork with a clang. And put his head in his hands.

"Why did you do that?" Thalia asked, a mouthful of spaghetti.

"Sorry, I'm just not hungry right now." Nico said tensely.

"No, not that!" Thalia snorted, "My cooking probably terrible anyway. I mean that whole thing with that girl. She obviously cares about you. Why'd shut her down?"

Nico exhaled deeply. Nico knew why. He couldn't stand her. She was exactly like Bianca. Like her reincarnation. She looked out for him. Or least tried to. He saw Hazel cry herself to sleep once in the sofa. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to hug her. But it felt too unreal. He couldn't let anyone get close again. He might cause their death too.

"I'm a big kid." Nico said coldly, "I don't need my older sister looking out for me."

Thalia grunted, she also put her fork down. "At least you've still got people trying." 

"You don't?" 

"My dad is never around. Probably forgot he has two kids. And that the alcoholic one lives with him." Thalia sighed closing her eyes like a painful memory was forming, "I haven't talked to Jason in months. I'm afraid to now. I said some stupid things. He told me the truth about my life. We never made up. Never looked back."

Nico looked at his pasta which seemed to smile at him. He wished it would stop. 

He could almost feel something in the air. Like static electricity. He felt himself leaning towards Thalia, her exotic blue highlights shining in an aura around her. He felt like someone understood everything. Someone he could stop being cold and strong for, and just be himself. She made him act like the silly little boy who spent his days laying around with crayons and begging his sister to play card games with him.

Thalia frowned even more. She reached into the pocket of her borrowed jeans and pulled out a thin rectangular enforced paper. Nico stiffened at the sight.

"What's this?" Thalia asked.

Nico broke. Right then and there. He couldn't take it anymore. Were the walls closing in on him? Yes, they were. He snatched the playing card sized paper from her hands, and got up. 

He was out the door before she could even said anything. He was down the street before she got up from the chair. He'd disappeared from the neighborhood before she'd reached the door.

And he kept running. Cold air stung his skin, the dark sky turning darker with the stars peeking out. He didn't grab a jacket. Just his Black T shirt and his jeans. And the tears that burned with the broken memory.

He spun off slamming into the brick wall of an alley.

"No! Just drop the subject Nico!"

"Damnit," he spit at the bricks, "I didn't mean it! I didn't mean to..."

It played all over in his mind eye. Exaggerating each second like suspended time.

The cold air, was frigid against his skin. The memory laid out like a ghastly movie. Bianca stood there, one year ago exactly, rolling her eyes like the high schooler she was. Her parka bundling her up against the cold. She was miffed, and it showed in the number of freckles eliminated on her nose.

Then he appeared, shivering even in his new jacket. Only a scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Please? Please? Come on Bianca!I can buy it all myself!" Young Nico begged. "See I've got all the money right here!"

"No! I already said it fourteen times!" Bianca yelled, "You don't need to go buying more cards for that stupid game!"

"But-!"

"No! Just drop the subject Nico. No more Myth-O-Magic cards!"

Bianca turned back to the road her hands clenched into tight fists. Nico glared at her back.

"Your the worse sister ever, Bianca!"

Her back went ridged, the air seemed to freeze into icicles around him. Her anger rolled off in waves. She didn't look. She stepped into the road. 

The memory exploded in his mind. Nico wanted to scream. He slid down against the brick wall. His nails digging into his frozen arms. The card was crumpled in his fist. Hidden away from his view. 

The universes greatest joke: Why Bianca never wanted him to buy the new expansion pack to his game.

Bianca had already bought it for him. A Christmas present.

He burned the game. Every single card he could find. Every single playing piece, every single chip. It dyed the flames blue. 

Bianca must have kept one after one of their games. 

His hands were shaking in the darkness. He peeled his hands off arm looking at the card. It was hard in the shadows but he could feel what card it was.

The Hades one. The most expensive card he'd ever bought. His favorite to play right after the Thantos card. 

Nico brought his trembling fingers together. "I didn't mean it. I didn't mean to." He ripped the card half and then into fourths. He threw them into the air. Nico hoped he'd never saw them again.

His eyes burned, the tears felt welded to his cheeks. Everything was cold. His head hurt. His heart felt like he was stabbing himself with a knife. Over. And over. And over again.

Suddenly the hairs on his neck stood on end. Something or Someone nearby...was that hissing he heard? Nico scraped away his tears wiping his nose on his arm. He got up to his feet warily. Grabbing the brick wall for balance.

The street light nearby offered little sight into the dark alleys. He was tempted to go back to his house, where it was warm, and he could lock himself in his room. But he stepped towards the darkness. And another step. He could hear the hissing again. It wasn't quite animal. More like a crazy human. He got closer to the alley, and the darkness was almost absolute in the night air. Faint yells and screams could be heard almost like the walls were cheering on an imaginary sports team.

Then Nico saw the door. The small wooden shack door, tiny slips of light escaped from inside, enough to identify it in the night. Something about the door chilled Nico to the bone, as if he wasn't already at risk of hypothermia. He crept closer to it, holding his breath.

He could hear the sound of like hundreds of people yelling out. Fight club? Nico guessed. The last place anyone would look to find him.

He'd never been so wrong in his life.

He opened the door enough to squeeze in. His small, slim figure blending with the ravaging others. His dark T shirt matched everyone else's but with cold realization, Nico noticed, he didn't have a red eye on his. Monsters

No one paid him any attention. Everyone in the room was screaming pointing towards the middle where two figures stood tall and proud. Two men of high importance. The kings of the Monsters. Nico recognized one as the man who'd owned the diner, a rich greedy guy, named....what the Hell was it? Krios?

The other guy, made Nico want to scream and run. So many things were so clear, as soon as the man turned his face. Why did the Monsters never get caught? Why was the police force slowly growing weaker in its ability to stop them?

Because the head chief of the police was the shadowy elusive King of the Monsters. Kronos. 

A figure from the crowd stepped up to the two men with a disproving frown. The crowd quieted dramatically, like they were expecting a fight. 

"My brothers," the new guy said, "You've got to stop this madness!"

The both of them looked at each other and laughed like that was the funniest thing ever.

"Oh look, he thinks he can tell us what to do." Krios laughed, "Go away, Bob. Go play with your demented cat or something!"

"Leave the ruling of the world to us," Kronos sneered, "It'll be easier for everyone."

Bob glared at them as if considering taking them on. Nico compared the sizes, and then the looks on the people near him who shuffled around trying to get a better view. Nico's head bounced against the back wall, next to the light switches of the warehouse room. Nico could almost smell the blood. 

He was going to puke. All over the floor. 

Then something even more unexpected happened. Not a punch or a kick, but a laugh. A door on the other side of the room was thrown open, and a tall teenager stood there with a horrific grin. Nico recognized him-the jock he'd attacked at school for calling Bianca pathetic and telling him he was a murder. But what caught Nico's eyes wasn't the recognition. It was what the jock was holding in his left hand.

Which happened to be a teenaged girl struggling to breathe with his hold on her neck.

Most of the Monsters around him hissed and growled like actual monsters. It sent a cold chill down his back. They moved constantly like ADHD children, the red eye one all of their shirts seemed to wink at Nico.

"Eavesdroper!" The jock roared, like something of Lion. The girl opened her mouth gasping for air. Why wasn't she screaming?

Kronos and Krios held nasty snarls on their faces. "Good job, Atlas."

If Nico hadn't been so terrified out of his mind, he might've laughed. The guy had the name Atlas, and still had the dignity to make fun of him?

"What should we do with the spy?" Krios looked at his brother. "Kill her?"

"NO!" Bob yelled. He stood in between the leader of Monsters and the girl.

Atlas growled with distaste at the other man, as if he was looking forward to killing the girl. 

"Step away, you weak joke!" Atlas yelled at the man named Bob, "You are not worthy of looking in our kings direction! A spineless pathetic excuse for a Gang Leader!"

"I will not let you hurt this girl!" Bob yelled.

Was it just Nico or did they seemed to be having a leadership issue?

Kronos got up, stepping towards Bob. Nico could see the door right next to him. If he left now, he might be able to reach the Wal-Mart down the road before he died.

Wonderful job, Neeks. Nico winced as his sister's voice played in his ears again, a Gang. And you're planning on out running them. And if that doesn't work, what are you going to do? Throw a couple playing cards at them?

Nico gritted his teeth. Of course that is what she would've said. But even in the mockery, Nico felt a sharp jab in his chest. He didn't even have anymore playing cards. He looked to his side, and the light switches caught his eye.

"-since the Di Angelo incident." Kronos was saying. Nico snapped back to the center of the room at the sound of his name, "We're just lucky the stupid girl stepped into the road. If not, Castellan would've exposed us all! All because you couldn't kill the stupid boy yourself!"

Realization smacked Nico in the chest. He fell back against the wall. Bob didn't waver up front. He looked disgusted. Several monsters booed after him growling and hissing to get their point across.

"Atlas, let the girl breath." Bob said. The tall jock ignored him looking at Krios and Kronos. "I said let her breathe!" 

Bob swung around knocking Atlas back with a fist to the face. The blond haired girl fell to the floor, silent tears falling down her face as she took huge gasps of oxygen.

The entire room exploded into chaos. Monsters screamed charged forward. Bob batted them away with a huge fist. Kronos and Krios were yelling for control. Atlas must have been important to them. A figure head of sorts.

Nico held back against the wall. He knew neither of the two, Bob and the girl, would get out of he didn't do something. 

Nico reached for the lights.

At the last second, he met Kronos eyes. The gang leaders eyes were cold empty abyss filled with hatred. 

Then Nico slammed off the lights. And everything was plunged into darkness.


	17. Thalia

Waking up in the hospital again was not on Thalia's plans. In fact all this in the hospital was messing up her drinking time. Her head hurt horrifically. Her throat was parched. Her body ached and somewhere along the line part of her brain registered that she was being attacked by a girl she didn't know.

"Oh my Gods. Oh my Gods!" The girl sobbed onto her shoulder. Why the Hell was she crying? Shit, this was Nico's shirt.

"You...you're alive!" The girl cried, partially on top of Thalia, "and you saved him! Jason! I don't know what to say!"

"Get off." Thalia croaked. 

The girl startled backwards. Was she turning red? She had sparking, watery eyes, and choppy brown hair. She was wiping away tears. 

"Water?" Thalia croaked a little more. Hell, she didn't want water. She wanted something a little stronger, vodka maybe.

The girl nodded, and grabbed a cup from the nightstand beside the bed. 

The water tasted like ash. Her throat burned and she almost choked it back up.

"Whoa, oh my gods!" The girl said again. She back the cup and Thalia wiped the excess water off her chin.

She looked up at the girl and she with a roll of her eyes. "Who the Hell are you?" She asked. 

"Piper." She said almost taken aback.

"Great. Got a last name?" Thalia asked rolling her shoulders painfully. Her headache felt like someone was banging on her skull with a club.

"I...don't use it." Piper said. 

Thalia nodded. She knew what it was like to not use a last name. She hated her own last name. "Where's Nico?"

Thalia didn't know how to feel about the skinny boy in black. But she thought they were friends, or at least knew each other well enough for him to be here. What she wouldn't give to be sitting with him eating candy bars like a day or two ago.

"Who?"

Thalia looked at Piper. She couldn't be serious could she? "The skinny pale kid who ears black all the time? Nico Di Angelo? He was with me when we ran into the movie theater parking lot."

Piper shook her head. 

He hadn't been here, at all? 

Thalia knew something had been bothering him. She remembered crashing into him on her search in the cold. Right before her phone went off. Right before the explosion. He had a freaked look in his eyes, the type deer got after they knew a Hunter was after them. 

He wouldn't tell her what happened, but she knew it was something more than the strange playing card she'd found in Bianca's pants. 

Then she'd gotten the phone call from a person who hadn't called her in a while. 

Her mom.

"Where's Jason?" Thalia asked out loud.

Piper let a huge smile form back on her face. Thalia shrugged away, staring at her warily. 

"He's in the next room. He's alive." Piper said more tears falling. "He's alive. Thank you."

The girl hugged Thalia again and Thalia wasn't sure what to do. Pat her on the back? Shove her off? Luckily Piper pulled away again.

"I need to speak to him." Thalia said, she pushed back the hospital bed sheets. Piper stuttered something, before posing her back down, with an usual amount of force. 

"Let me up." Thalia growled, "I need to talk to him now."

"Are you his girlfriend?" Piper asked.

"What?" 

"His girlfriend? Are you?" Piper's eyes were rimmed red, like she was about to start crying again.

Thalia snorted. Then she the back her head and laughed hollowly. "NO!" She giggled shortly, "That spots all for you. I'm his...His... sister. Whether he likes it or not."

Piper sighed in relief. Thalia didn't blame her. From the look in her eyes, the girl was publicly falling for Jason hard. And how could she compete with a girl who'd saved his life by running into a burning building and dragging him out? Luckily Thalia was not looking to be Jason's date to prom. 

"You two don't even look alike." Piper commented. 

"Uh...yeah." Thalia got up, grabbing the bed railing for support, "We don't act alike either."

Piper scrunch her nose. Thalia rolled her eyes. 

"PIPER!" Thalia recognized the girl that opened the door with a hurry. It was Nico's adopted older sister. She never did catch the girls name.

"Piper, I don't know what happened!" She squeaked, "I can't find my brother anywhere! He's not responding to my texts and he's not answering my phone calls!" She looked at Thalia, gasping, "You! You were at my house last night! What happened to Nico?"

"He's...missing?" Thalia asked, "He was with me last night, and then he got worked up over some card and bolted out the door, and when I found him, he was acting weird. Then I got the call from my mother asking me to find my brother at the movies and the explosion-"

"Whoa, whoa, wait!" The girl looked furious. "A card? A myth-o-magic card?"

"I don't know. Maybe?"

"Goddamn it! Of all the Stupid things!" The girl yelled at the ceiling. 

"He burned most of his cards." She spit at Thalia like it was all her fault, "He hates that game. Something about it reminds him of Bianca. It makes him go crazy."

"I didn't know!" Thalia shot back. 

"Who's Nico?" Piper asked. 

"Piper, we've got a problem!" Another burly guy walked into the room, waving a cell phone wildly. If he noticed Thalia and the girl yelling at each other he didn't show it. 

"The police station doesn't have any record of taking Annabeth in for questioning. And the boy, Perseus, disappeared from the ambulance over night!"

"What?" Piper asked.

"They've disappeared!" The Chinese Canadian guy said.

"And Nico. This Annabeth girl, and this guy who'd been shot!" The girl said, choking on a sob, "Jason hasn't woken up yet, Leo's still dizzy from his head injury, and the only to leave the hospital without triggering about a hundred alarms is to jump out a freaking window!"

Piper sat down on the bed pulling her hair with frustration. She was barely keeping the tears at bay. Like her whole world was collapsing around her. 

"Merry Christmas." Piper said with a whimper in her voice, "because this is where were spending it according to the doctors."

Thalia brought a hand up to her head, it was ice cold against her forehead.

"The only thing I know is the officer that took Annabeth write a name tag." The guy said, helplessly, "A Luke Castellan. I can't remember where I heard that-"

Thalia caught off his sentence with her elbow. She flung herself at him, shoving him back against the wall with her arm across neck. Fury built up in her, and she could feel every instinct telling her to crush his neck.

"What the Hell-?" He yelled, Thalia growled.

"Tell me that again. What was his name? Because you better be Damn joking." She snapped, a horrible sting behind her eyes of unshead tears, her throat burned, her headache pounded heavily.

"I-I swear!" The boy choked, "That's what...it...said."

"Goddamn it! Fuck!" Thalia screamed. She shoved the guy back again and turned away. The other girls looked terrified, Thalia couldn't help it.

Thalia ran her hands through her hair, yanking slightly to feel the pain. "Luke Castellan is dead." She whimpered. 

"Maybe he didn't die-" Piper tried quietly.

"He's Dead!" Thalia screamed, "I was there! In the crash! And you can't be revived from a snapped neck!"

"Thalia, calm down-"

"I CAN'T!" She yelled, Piper flinched backwards, "I fucking can't! It was my fault in that crash! If I hadn't said anything Luke would be alive! Bianca too! Even that war veteran woman in the other car! And now some jackass bitch is wearing his uniform! What the Hell!"

Than the girl was hugging her. Thalia didn't even know what to say, she voice scratched and words suddenly flung out the door.

It was like a huge joke. Luke was dead, and someone was pretending to be him. And now three people were missing, kidnapped by this...monster.

"I can file a missing report." The guy said, shaking still, "Annabeth was in a gray sweatshirt, Perseus in blue, what was Nico wearing?"

"Black," Thais sniffled, "A black T shirt. The last place I saw him was in the parking lot at the movies. He charged into the clearing with me."

The guy dropped the phone.

"What?" The girl asked, "Frank, what's wrong?"

Frank was pale, paler than earlier. He looked at Thalia with wide eyes, "He was arrested by the officers last night."

"What?" Piper asked, "and you didn't think to tell us?"

"I was preoccupied." Frank yelled, "He was in the car with Annabeth!"

Thalia felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach. First pretending to be Luke? Now kidnapping Nico? Anger burned in her chest. This had to be the Monsters. And they killed people, Thalia knew. She already lost Luke. 

She was not losing Nico, too.

"Give me the phone." She said through gritted teeth, "This just went beyond personal."

She was an emotional mess. Thalia would probably be the first to admit it. She needed a drink. Her tears were flooding down her face, her anger building like a warping hurricane. 

She did not think about the number she typed in. She didn't hesitate when the voicemail picked up to answer.

"Never made it to the stars?" She said, much to the confusion of the girls and Frank.

Immediately the phone picked up. An ingenious system for someone who never wanted to be found again.

"Thals?" The voice said.

"Yep. I need a favor." She said in a hard voice, "Remember how Castellan saved your ass all those years ago? Time to cash in."

The line was silent for a couple moments. "...What do you need, Grace?"

Thalia gritted her teeth, she hated her last name. "Light the Monsters up."

"I can't do that! That would expose me back to him."

"I've got three people who've been kidnapped by someone from the Monsters using Luke's uniform. Do it now."

The phone in Thalia's hand binged with a new message. But Thalia knew better than that.

The person on the other side of the phone let out a sob that sounded like a she was scared and miserable. "Thalia? Remember when I wanted to be an astronaut?"

Thalia felt cold. She knew where this was going, "Yes."

"I'll help you save your friends. I'll see you there."

The line dropped dead. And Thalia pulled it away from her ear slowly. The screen was now lit up with a map. And several markers, red for monsters crowded in two different warehouses across the city, black in a room of the hospital, labeled Thalia and friends, and one moving icon in a star silver heading towards one of the warehouses.

Thalia have the phone to a confused Frank. "Take the other warehouse."

"How are we suppose to get out?" Piper asked, "Hazel, just said they've got alarms everywhere."

"I can help." They all whipped around to see a volunteer doctor standing there with a piece of tape over his nose like it had been broken. "I'm Will Solace. I came to check on the screaming. But I'm also a volunteer here. I know the pace inside and out. And can by pass all the alarms for you."

"You'd do that?" Hazel asked.

"I feel like my other choice is a punch in the mouth so yeah. Can't have anyone ruining my prefect face." Will motioned to his smile, sarcastically. The tape over his nose kinda st off his ideal boyfriend look. "Plus I owe Annabeth one. That was extremely rude of me." He looked at Frank in a mutual understanding Thalia didn't get.

Thalia strolled over to the window taking a deep breath. 

"What about you, Thalia?" Piper asked, "You are coming right?"

She opened the window smiling back at them in almost a sad way. "I'm going to help my friend reach the stars."

Then she jumped out the window.


	18. Annabeth

Annabeth was cold. Ice cold. With fear. They'd dragged her out of the police car thrown her in a room with the boy who'd saved her earlier. The other guy who'd  been in the car with her, the boy in the black T shirt, had been dragged off somewhere else. He'd tried to fight, but two punches, one to his stomach another to his skull, and he was done.

The room was made of concrete, without even a window to look out of. The only light was off a single lightbulb, dangling too far over her head to even reach. The cold air seemed to radiate off the ground. She shivered.

The only sound was the other boys shallow breathing. He was laying on his stomach, his sweatshirt was discolored from blood, especially where he'd been hit by the bullet. The bruise on his cheek looked worse than before, his bandaged wrist was sticking at an of angle, that couldn't be comfortable.

She wanted to say some type of sorry, some form of action that could beg forgiveness. She didn't want this to happen to anyone. He'd been hurt because he tried to help her.

Just like that guy, Bob, who'd tried to help her. They'd gotten as far as the door out in the darkness. Who ever had turned out the lights had saved their lives. Bob had pushed her out locking the door behind her to block the Monsters inside, if only buying her time.

Now it was her and this boy in a freezing room with Monsters outside the doors. And they were going to kill them. It was the worse nightmare she'd ever had.

And she wasn't waking up.

"It....wasn't...your...fault...."

Annabeth crawled over to the boy. He gasped for air or maybe it was in pain. Annabeth wasn't sure but it made her want to cry.

"I...was...a...little...beat...up...before...hand..." The boy gasped again, and he found the nerve to laugh. Somehow. It sounded like a choking fit but he was attempting a smile. The noise rebounded, emphasizing that sound loudly, until it faded from the boys lips.

"Whats...your...name...?" He asked after a while.

Annabeth looked down. She motioned to her throat and something she hoped resembled talking, and shook her head.

"You...Can't...talk...?" He asked, "can...I...call...you... Annabeth...then?"

Annabeth looked up surprised. Her hands flung into motion before she could stop herself. **[That is my name.]** She motioned.

He looked at the motions and he made another choking fit laugh. "I...have...no...clue...what....you...are...saying." He seemed to think that was really funny, "I'm...Percy....Jackson."

Annabeth frowned at him. **[I'm sorry for all this]** She was completely aware he couldn't understand it. But it felt better when she signaled it. As if there was anyway to feel better.

"You...know....I used...to have....a...couple...friends..." Percy said, "named...Selina...And....Beckford...we use...to play....pirates....at the....playground...."

Annabeth had no idea why he was telling her this. Was he dying? Oh gods, he couldn't been dying could he? It was just a feverish mumbling right? Thinking of better times?

"...I...think...they...ran...off...together." Percy mumbled, "Selina...use to....talk...about...couples...always...said... I'd...find...a perfect....girl..."

Annabeth wanted to tell him he would. Promise him that he would get out of here alive. But she was so sacred she wasn't sure she could even stand enough to protect him.

"...I'm...laying...here...it's...really...cold." Percy said. "Can...you...help...me...up..?"

His voice was choked like someone was pressing down his throat. Annabeth crept closer. Her fingers were shaking with the ice cold air. She put her arms under his chest gently as she could lifted him to the side.

He winced like Annabeth had punched him and she almost dropped his weight back into the ground.

"Sorry...bruise..." Percy coughed again. Annabeth winced and shifted him to a sitting position. Almost immediately he fell over. Annabeth grabbed his shoulder before he could face plant into the concrete.

Percy whimpered, he was trying hard not to cry. But Annabeth could see his eyes watering, and his coughing turned to a gagging choke.

Annabeth leaned him against her shoulder, his head slumped against her like he didn't have any control. She cheek was stiff with dried blood, and a tear rolled over it.

She couldn't help thinking how many other people had been sitting there, in her same place, knowing beyond that reinforced metal door were two titan gang leaders plotting their deaths. Had they screamed? Had they attempted a break out? Had they shriveled up and cried until the moment their life was ended? Had they been alone? Had anyone cared?

Would anyone care?

"Don't...cry..." Percy mumbled at her, "we're...going...to...be...alright." he swallowed and it seemed to echo terribly off the walls.

Annabeth pulled her knees to her chest, wanting to wail out her sorrows. Here she was, with this boy who'd been shot up, bruised till he was literally black and blue, and he was the one cheering her up.

"We're...matchies..." Percy mumbled, head shifting enough so he wasn't sounding too in pain.

Annabeth looked at him confused. Nothing about them was the same. He had dark black restless hair, and dazzling sea green eyes that were probably once shining with laughter and happiness, and now stood cold and broken waiting for something, or Someone, to heal him. Annabeth brushed her blond hair curls that were in desperate need of a wash out of her sight, and the concrete ground she thought were a solid reflection of her irises.

"Our...cheeks..." Percy mumbled, "mine...is... bruised...yours ...is...scarred..." he gulped and swallowed.

He lifted his eyes up to meet hers. And for a moment Annabeth thought she felt warmer next to him.

"You...are...beautiful..." Percy whispered.

Annabeth felt her chest start to close up. Her throat was raw with so many emotions she couldn't even begin to explain them.

She picked up his hands. They were like ice, frozen popsicles. The skin was rubbed raw and chapped over his knuckles. She laced her fingers around his, finding strength in that little action.

She brought her forehead close to his. A tear dropped onto his cheek. A river of salty tears curved to the corners of her mouth. She placed her lips against his, something sweet and pure. She found bravery in him, warmth. This broken boy, on deaths doorstep, diminished her fears. And when she pulled back she kept her head right next to him.

"We...are...going...to be...alright..." Percy murmured, again.

Annabeth thought as far as last words could go, those were that bad of one's to believe in.

Then the door burst open with the sounds of gunshots.


	19. Leo

Leo could remember the first time he saw Hazel Levesque. It wasn't something he could forget easily.

She was a new transfer from another orphanage down state, an annoyed golden eyed girl in a flowery white dress. She wore her hair down, and the frizzy curls obscured her mesmerizing eyes.

Leo had been practically dragged into the old building by the scruff of his shirt. His combat boots scraped across the floor and Festus had been gripped tightly in his hands till his knuckles were white.

The lawyer, or whoever that guy had been, had sat him in a chair outside the office right next to Hazel.

Leo had sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He'd been so close. So close to escaping that time. He almost gotten away. Stupid icy sidewalk.

"Something wrong?" Hazel asked, picking at a thread on her dress.

"My whole life." Leo snorted. He looked up at her running a finger around the rim of Festus's neck, "You. You look new."

"I am new." Hazel said blowing a piece of hair out of her eyes. "To here at least. Not quite that new to having no place to call home."

Leo nodded. He knew that feeling. No home. No friends. Expect Festus. He looked down at his Dragon, and it felt like a bit of home, a bit of his mom.

"What's that?" Hazel asked.

"Nothing." Leo said, then, "Everything."

Hazel didn't respond as if she knew it was a touchy subject. It shouldn't have been hard to figure out by his tone. Leo swallowed hard.

"I'm Leo." He said anxious to remove the attention of his safekeeping talisman.

"Hazel."

Thinking back on the moment, he could have bolted out the door and never seen her again. He could've changed his entire life, his future. He never would've been adopted by that horrid foster family, he never would've met Jason and fixed his stood car, he never would've gone to the movies and...He never would've seen her with another guy.

Yeah, Leo saw the way she looked at Frank, even if no one else did. She was head-over-heels giddy around him, a new source of confidence rolling off her shoulders.

And part of Leo wished it was him.

But his more rational side kicked in. It would never be him. Never again. They had been friends, best friends, he missed his chance. He broke off their relationship, all those years ago, whatever it had been, it was nothing now.

And in four days, it would just be a bad nightmare, from an uncomfortable window seat, as he watched the land around him shift from cold winter, to snowy plains and frosted air.

He leaned against his car fingering his ticket to freedom. Behind him the school building rang for a change of class. Of course Piper seemed like the type of girl who liked to get something done before she forgot, then forget about it.

The Monday morning was unreasonably frigid. Leo huddled against his car door to avoid the sharp winds. He gently pocketed the information foldable.

Sneaking out of the hospital hadn't been a problem. Putting a grease monkey with a mechanical engineering background on a second floor room with a tree right outside the window was not the smartest idea ever. Getting his clothes back, easiest thing ever. Just ask that blond haired volunteer guy if he could change back into his freshly cleaned clothes.

Lying to Piper, well that's another story.

Leo hadn't felt dizzy. Not even when he actually slammed into the column. Yeah it hurt like Hell, but his brain had only registered one thing...

Fire.

It shut down all of Leo's thoughts, feelings, words. Like a flashback only bigger. Like someone had dropped a time freeze right in him while everything else continued to happen around him.

Leo didn't even try to deny it to himself. He knew that if Piper had not helped him out, leaving Jason behind, he would not have made it out. He owed her his life.

And he lied straight to her face.

He wondered if she'd already found out. If she'd dashed into his room after Jason had woken to spill the good news and stuttered to a stop when she saw he was gone. If she'd cursed at the window and screamed for the doctors. If she'd cried a little, just for him.

Or maybe she hadn't cared enough to go see him again.

Whatever the case, Leo couldn't help but feel guilty. He was not dizzy. He was not tired. He was not in his hospital room sleeping. He was at the high school building about to get in his car and drive back to his foster Parents house to wait four days, until Christmas.

"Uh hey!" Leo looked up from inserting his keys in his truck to unlock the door to see a girl with dirty blond hair pulled back by stunning red bandana breathing heavily as if she'd just run all the way here. Her bandana was bedazzled with small, black, fake gems that spelled out the name Nyssa. Leo remembered her from his metalworking class.

"Hey, is this your car?" She panted.

"Last time I checked...." Leo replied uncertainly.

"Ok, look," she took a deep breath leaning on his bumper as if she would fall down otherwise. "I thought I saw the Stolls over here messing around under the hood. I wouldn't opened your car if I were you."

Leo cursed. He'd totally forgotten about how he insulted Connor those couple days ago. It wouldn't have surprised him if they rewired his engine, and filled his entire inside with motor oil.  It seemed like the stuff they would do.

He wasn't even going to open it. Leo pulled out his keys, grumbling. It looked like he was walking.

He said a thank you to Nyssa who smiled shortly before dashing off who knows where. Leo buried his chin in his jacket and started waking.

And that's when karma happened.

"I'm dizzy, Piper!"A female voice whined behind him in mock distress, "Are there suppose to be two of you? Oh!"

Leo cringed as he heard the person, well girl, stumbled falsely and then she grabbed his hood and yanked back hard.

Piper didn't look amused. Leo flinched under her gaze. She looked angry, enough to murder him. Why? Why would she care if he was out?

"What the Hell, Valdez!" Piper yelled. Frank and Hazel were behind them shifting nervously like they weren't quite sure what to do, their hands floating not inches away from each other.

Leo choked on his own spit, letting out a garbled excuse and rubbing his neck where his shirt had nearly decapitated him.

"What's wrong with you?" Piper demanded, "The whole lying thing? Fist you tell Jason you're not a mechanic! Then you lie straight to my face? Obviously you're okay since to managed to get out of the freaking hospital!"

Leo hooked his jaw closed, to keep him from saying something he might regret.

"Well?" Piper demanded, "What have you got to say for yourself?"

"Piper." Hazel spoke up, "We're wasting time."

The poor girl looked terrified under Piper's glare. But something about what she said clicked in the older girls head. She let go of Leo's shirt, shoving him angrily and continued walking in the same direction as he'd already been walking.

Frank glanced down at the phone in his hand, frowning slightly. Then he hurried after Piper, without a glance at him.

Hazel looked at him, her golden eyes guarded, her hands twiddling together.

"Wasting time for what?" Leo asked.

Hazel looked at him with an expression he couldn't read and she ran after Frank and Piper.

"Wait, what?" Leo said, he followed without thinking. He easily caught up with them, as they stopped at a stop light. Frank regarded him with tight lips as if a thousand words he'd rather say were being locked up in his mouth for Hazel's sake. "What's going on?"

"We are about to do something, that will probably get us killed." Hazel responded. "Are you in or out?"

"I don't know, what is it?"

"We're about to go charging into a top secret gang meeting and save two people from being murdered." Frank said, calmly though his shoulders were tense like he wasn't expecting he'd come back out.

"What the Hell!" Leo cried, "Why would you do that?"

"Because, they need help." Piper spit, "and unlike someone I know, they probably won't lie straight to my face."

"I meant charge in blindly!" Leo said with gritted teeth.

Piper glared at him. "I don't suppose you've got a better idea, you jerk."

"Who shoved a stick up your ass this morning, Piper?" Leo yelled, "I'm sorry for lying to you, Kay? But I had my reasons! So you can stop acting like a total priss when I ask a freaking question!"

"Sorry doesn't cut it!" Piper snarled, "I stayed up all freaking night worried sick about you and Jason! I've been a nervous wreck since that explosion! And here I find your completely fine, walking about. I should've helped Jason out and left you to burn."

Leo could feel the baby blue foldable card in his pocket grow heavier. A rush of anger flowed over him.

"Don't you even dare!" Leo growled, "Don't you even dare go there! Pretending to care about me! Don't act like my friend! You're just like everyone else! I'm the Pity case. You just care about Jason, your pretty Prince charming! And yes, I wish you left me to die too! Then I wouldn't have to stand here bickering the minutes away!"

"Leo!" Hazel cried. They all looked slightly stunned. Frank had his eyes open wider than usual, surprised he would admit that he himself wished he'd died. Hazel looked close to tears with her hands over her mouth. Piper's face was screwed up like she wasn't quite sure what emotion she was portraying, anger? horror? annoyance?

"I'd stay out of this, Hazel," Leo said dangerously, "I trusted you! More than anyone else. I know you were the one who told them about Festus. I can't believe I told you anything! Secrets don't mean a thing to you, do they?"

"Hey! Back off!" Frank said stepping in front of Hazel

"Or what?" He challenged, "You'll hit me? Defend your princess from the big scary Dragon? Run it up your flagpole, buddy! I see how you look at her, I see how she looks back! You think it doesn't hurt? I know I'm alone! And the only thing that understands me at all is a stupid wooden figurine of a Dragon!"

Leo squeezed Festus in his hands like a bit of good luck. The rough edges cut into his skin. Piper stepped towards him, but she no longer looked mad, just...concerned.

"Leo," she said in a small voice, "You're not alone."

"Whatever, Piper," Leo said coldly, "You guys have people to save, and yes, I do have a better idea. And it involves not dying as a bonus."

_Well at least not them anyway_. Leo thought


	20. Hazel

As far as on the spot plans, Hazel thought Leo's plan was half decent. It took him probably five minutes to formulate the odds and ends and unexpected happenings, it must have taken Hazel all of four seconds to ruin it all.

Leo had angrily explained his idea, which was fairly simple and hard to mess up. When Frank pointed out there was no way that Leo and Hazel could make it all the way through the Monsters undetected, Leo's eyes flashed and he requested ten dollars.

And he bought flashlights from a nearby store.

So they were about to fight a gang that had Guns, knives, and fists, with flashlights.

"It's like laser tag," Leo said flicking the light on and off to check if it worked, "Except you get points for blinding people instead."

They were standing in an alley nearby the warehouse that the Monsters were in. Frank had shone Leo the phone map and his eyes grew twice their size. He didn't elaborate why but Hazel thought that she heard something about technological geniuses.

Hazel was currently holding the phone staring at the screen warily. Frank and Piper were helping Leo build his escape plan device and every once in a while she could hear Leo scold one of them, or a sparking of wires.

Hazel bit her lip. The red dots of the Monsters were milling around inside the warehouse like a huge meeting. There were two green dots in a back room close together, labeled "hostages", very helpfully. Hazel hoped her step brother was one of those, but it was impossible to find out until they opened the back door.

Her eyes flicked to the other mass of color. She scrolled across town to the other warehouse. The red color formulated like blood. It made her queasy, one line green dot was in a back room with one other red dot. Hazel knew whatever was going on in there she didn't what to know. She looked at the one mysterious icon standing right outside the door to the warehouse, a silver star labeled, Zoë Nightshade.

Hazel hoped Thalia was okay. Hell, she hoped she, herself, would be okay. Thalia didn't stick around long enough to explain who her friend was, or how she knew about the Monsters. Her only clue was the icon name.

_Please, be okay. Please, be okay..._ Hazel repeated the chant silently in her head. She wished desperately she could rewind the clock, back to last night. Maybe she could've had Nico stay home, or stuck around just to make sure everything was okay. She could've shoved Thalia out the door, or tripped and fallen down the steps breaking her arm and had to go to the hospital.

"Okay, We're ready." Leo said, the anger that had inhabited his features had disappeared. He couldn't see but behind him Piper was looking at him cautiously, like he might be the thing that blows up and not the metal ball in his hands. Frank gave her a small smile, but Hazel could sense his distress.

Maybe, if she could turn back the clock, she could have said goodbye.

***

Leo made the signal, a quick flash off the light off the wall. Frank and Piper crept towards the back of the warehouse, silent as mice which was surprising considering Frank's size.

Hazel glanced at Leo. They knelt next to a stack of milk carton crates out of view of any one not looking specifically for them.

She was worried for him. He'd never seemed to jumpy before. She tried to dismiss it as his ADHD, but something kept bugging her. A little voice in the back of her mind reminding her that he'd wished Piper had left him to die.

His back was rigid like he was awaiting the worst. Hazel wondered if he was still completely angry with her about the secret.

"I can feel you staring." Leo said coarsely.

Hazel looked away quickly, an uneasiness settling over her like a thick blanket.

Leo sighed muttering something that only he would know. "Look, Hazel," Leo said, his voice softer than earlier, "I didn't mean what I said back there. About the secret. I was angry."

Hazel noted that he didn't take back what he said about dying.

"It's...just..." Leo tensed his shoulders, "It gets harder, you know? I can see everyone around me find their prefect match, Piper and Jason, you and Frank- don't deny it. I know you like him. I can't help wondering when I'm going to find my match. If I'm going to find my match."

Hazel bit her lip, a nervous habit that was going to end up with her bleeding down her chin, "You'll find her, Leo."

He pressed his fingers against his pocket, a black expression on his face, though his eyes were misty. Hazel watched as he pulled out a folded blue card.

"What's that?"

"Something I'm not sure I'll need." Leo replied.

"What?"

"There's our signal." Leo said getting up, he didn't look back at her. He shoved the blue folder back into his pocket and readied his flashlight.

"Wait, what do you mean-?"

He ran out of their cover, before she could finish, leaving Hazel's only choice to follow.

Hazel had never been so terrified in her life. Leo slammed into the warehouse door, smiling like he had the world in his hands. The door gave in and whoever had been behind it was crushed between the door and the wall with a gross sounding snap.

Inside was dark, about a hundred people wearing black and red shirts chose together. The only light were kerosene lamps that made the shadows look intensely inhuman and stacked in the corners and one in the center.

All eyes turned towards them, and Leo pulled off a malicious laugh.

"Hi." He said, then "Bye!"

Just like that he flashed the light so bright that all the Monsters suffered back screaming. Hazel darted threw them, her flashlight shining like a beam of pure destruction. Someone started shooting and more chaos erupted like a wild fire. Hiding and yelling filled her ears. A blade narrowly missed her shoulder and, human and inhuman screeches twisted all sound.

Leo was of on the other side of the room jumping and screaming just to add a little more chaos. Hazel wasn't sure, but she thought she could hear him genuinely laughing, like he was having fun.

"Crazy Lunatic." She mumbled, she leapt over a fallen person who was crying and covering their eyes. Gunshots flung about the room, people collapsed. The red eye symbol that one held the prize of powerful and organized brigands now looked like a joke.

The back door to the room were the two people were being held wad latched shut. Hazel shoved the flashlight in her mouth using two hands to open the heavy latch.

She reached for the knob, her fingers barely grazing the cool metal. Then suddenly she let out a sharp yep as her hair was ripped back, the flashlight tumbling out of her mouth.

Two bony hands gripped her hair wrenching her had backwards so it was right next to a creepy woman's face. The woman hissed and Hazel twisted and elbows her straight in the nose. The woman's scream was drowned in the gunshots as other people shoved and pushed around. Hazel snatched her flashlight back up, bounding towards the door.

A bullet embedded itself in the wall inches from her face, a woozy feeling swept over her. Then the screams intensified. Light beams bounced off everything reflective surface. Frank appeared next to her driving his elbow into the stomach of some guy with a knife.

She gulped and he nodded at her gruffly. She supposed he would've smiled had they not been so close to dying. Hazel throw open the door.

For a second, Hazel thought the messed up chaos behind her had fallen to a deafening silence. She remembered Annabeth, the girl when she'd run into the Theater. She looked terrified, but that was nothing to what she looked like now.

She looked like she went through literal Hell.

The boy, Perseus, was worse. His skin was a sickly pale, his cheek bruised an ugly blackish purple. His sweatshirt was stained incredibly bad, a blossoming red tint around his stench. His jeans were ripped and his breathing sounded terrible.

Annabeth had tears streaming down her face, her cheek sliced with dried blood. Her golden hair was tangled into some messy thing. He arms were scratched and bruised.

Frank surged past Hazel running towards them. The sound of gunshots swung Hazel into action. Annabeth must have trusted Frank because she tried to help him carry the boy.

Frank talked soothing words to her, but the screams in the other room must have been as terrifying as Hazel thought they were.

"I'm Frank," Frank said causally, his eyes darting towards Hazel, "and this is Hazel. Don't worry, we've got this."

Hazel was amazed at how well he remained. The boy coughed something that was like a laugh, "Percy..." He gasped, "see...Ann-Annabeth... told...you...we'd...be...alright-" he broke into a series of severe gasping coughs.

Frank let a look of flash in his eyes but it was gone just as far as in came. Frank carried Percy out with surpassing ease and Hazel found Annabeth's wrist.

Flashlight on, Hazel acted like a beacon of terror. Her beam blinded anything nearby, a resounding scream of curses, and hissing left in its wake.

What, were these people bats or something? Nocturnal?

Leo's laughing sounded as annoying as ever as he jumped along bouncing to fast too for anyone to catch him. Piper also was a distracting sight. Not only was she blinding the monsters, she was whirling and kicking too, like she'd studied kung fu her whole life. Hazel stomped on someone's upper body as they attempted to grab Frank's feet from under him.

Annabeth kicked someone in the face. The darkness almost hiding the smirk on the mute girls face. Monsters ran around, someone had dropped the gun and all that remained was the screaming.

Then Leo pulled out something, a small switch thing and pressed it.

"MONSTERS! THIS IS THE POLICE! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"

The voice of a police officer yelled through the air. The monsters froze in a shocked panic, and then flooded all around screaming even louder than before.

Leo grinned, proudly. His machine had worked. And the voice recording repeated louder.

"THIS IS THE POLICE!"

Frank kicked open the door barging outwards into the sun. Hazel pushed Annabeth after him.

"Piper!" Hazel called. The fiery girl whipped about. She darted past Hazel out the door. She turned back towards Leo, motioning frantically, for him to hurry.

"Stop Him!" Someone screamed and the Monsters grabbed towards Leo, someone grabbing his arm.

"Go Hazel!" Leo yelled over the noise. Hazel froze.

_This was his plan._ She realized. He never intended to make it out. There was no way. He captured all of the attention to let Frank and Piper and her get out. By doing that, he wouldn't be able to get out. He was sacrificing himself for her.

"Like Hell, Valdez!" She yelled.

So Hazel ruined his plan. He was not dying on her. They may not have been dating anymore, but they were friends. And Friends don't let friends die.

She grabbed a kerosene lamp, that was sitting on either side of the door, and she threw it into the center.

And it broke into another lamp. Flames shot up wards like rockets, horrifying orange fireworks. Leo's eyes grew huge, his jaw dropped, the nearest monster was caught on fire screaming as smoke flooded off his skin. The monsters ran away, forgetting Leo entirely.

And it seemed Leo forgot himself too.

He didn't move.

"LEO!" Hazel screamed.

Tears streamed down his face, his eyes stared into the flames that wove jagged patterns like he was seeing something terrible.

"LEO!" She screamed again. Smoke obscured her vision slightly, "VALDEZ!"

He didn't move.

"LEO!"

Suddenly as if he'd been slapped in the face, he snapped back to himself. Coughing heavily he ran towards her, the support beams over head cracked one crashing down inches away from him, orange lit the walls. Smoke poured out any gaps it could find. Hazel grabbed Leo's hand and they pulled out the door.

The smoke flew away and they tumbled to the ground.

Seconds later, the entire building exploded with fire.

Heat brushed Hazel's hair back and Leo stared wide eyed at the ground in front of them. Passerbys were screaming and pointing at them and the building, yelling into phones, the walls of sirens echoed in the city.

"No dying." Hazel said.

"No dying." Leo agreed.


	21. Thalia

It felt like just yesterday everything in her pathetic life was going fine. A couple shots of vodka, a loud stereo of music that shook the house, and no one to bother her.

"What I wouldn't give for a nice, cool beer." Thalia muttered.

"Same." Zoë Nightshade stood beside her, dark shades covering her face, which was unreasonably pale. Her hair was tucked as neatly possible into a braid that contrasted her shining silver parka. She kept her face blank but her knuckles were curled white on around her lap top, as she typed the last letter of her program.

If Thalia closed her eyes she could feel the night all over again. The night it all started. The beginning of the end.

Zoë's fingers froze over the keyboard, like a moment of indecision. The screen of her lap top lit up with one question, Delete All?

Then Zoë hit ok.

Thalia watched as an entire life worth of digital information disappeared so completely no one would ever find it again. The screen blotted out, until it was just one dark screen, a broken lap top that would never turn on again.

Zoë closed it with a click and walked to the nearest trashcan. Thalia followed warily, the Central Park grass folding underneath her sneakers.

Zoë towered over the garbage can shaky, Thalia put a hand on her shoulder, frowning.

"You don't have to do this." She said.

Zoë have her a sad smile, her eyes flashing briefly behind the black sunglasses. She dropped the entire lap top into the trashcan.

"This is very different than jumping off a bridge, Thalia," she said, "You can't say the same words and expect the same outcome."

Thalia wasn't amused. _It's just a precaution._ Thalia thought, _in case we don't come back._

Zoë turned back to her. "You ready?"

"No."

"Let's go." Zoë led the way barely making a sound. She weaved down the path, finding the exact warehouse without a problem. None of the other pedestrians gave them a second look. The world continued moving even when Zoë fidgeted to a stop.

If Thalia took a deep breath, she could feel the panic of the situation buzzing under her skin. Almost like static electricity flickering between her fingers. The sun was high in the sky, a little past lunch, but for once Thalia didn't even have an appetite.

"When I was younger, I use to dream about the stars." Zoë said monotone.

Thalia nodded. Staring right ahead, right at the warehouse door.

"I told myself I would dance among them, one day. I'd visit far away planets, I'd be honored and admired by tons of kids." Zoë's voice echoed still, as if she was drifting that far away. "I said I'd leave this world and find a new one. Another reality, to escape the nightmare I was in."

She walked forward towards the warehouse door, trance like, like she was coming home. Her fingers tugged at her jackets zipper, revealing the collar of the black T shirt underneath.

"I could name all the constellations. Every single one. And I studied them on my computer, late into the night."

Thalia dug her nails into her palm. Zoë's voice was growing hollow, just like that night on the bridge. Thalia felt freezing cold as if a icy wind was tormenting her, even though there was no wind.

Zoë pulled off her jacket entirely and the T shirt hugged her with a blazing red eye in middle like a bullseye.

"My brother told me I was being stupid. People like us, common people, don't go to the stars. He said I wouldn't get very far. Not without help." Zoë continued, stopping at the door. The wood engravings in it lined up like the thousands of water ripples that graced the ocean that night.

"The Monsters recruited him. But they needed me, too. Me and my computer skills. They said I could reach the stars after that. I wanted to be an astronaut."

Zoë reached out and touched the door knob. The cold metal glistening at her touch. "They lied. They couldn't make me an astronaut, Thalia. They used me. And they got a lot of power because of me. I ran that night. I ran to the bridge. I saw the stars in the sea, that night. They twinkled, playful. The lapping waters called, over the noise of the traffic behind me. They told me to come and play. They were beautiful."

Zoë looked at Thalia. Thalia knew what happened next. She'd heard this story so many times. She had nightmares about it.

"So I jumped." Zoë opened the door.

Thalia stood by the door, Zoë was gone. She was a blur, no longer silver. No longer confined. She was a shit load of destruction. Dangerous and lethal. She had out her hunting knife, slicing and dicing like she was on auto pilot. Someone brought out a gun.

Thalia knocked out from his hand bashing the man's head against the wall. She spin the barrel into a woman's head, preferring to swing it rather than shoot. Zoë, not so much.

Zoë made the shirts, the logo of the Monsters. The red eye. She designed it with a purpose. It was _suppose_ to be bullseye. And she didn't miss.

Screams echoed in the warehouse, a couple gunshots. A pile of bodies left in her wake. A glint of metal sparked in the sunlight and blood dropped on the floor. Then it was quiet.

A lone figure standing opposite of Thalia, Zoë had tears falling down her cheeks, her shades discarded under some creepy guy. Her shirt was ripped, her silver jacket was dropped smeared with red.

Zoë dropped a knife from her hand, it clattered to the floor. Her side was cut sharply blood running into her jeans. Thalia didn't even know what to think.

What to say.

"I didn't die." Zoë sobbed, "that night on the bridge. A couple was walking by, celebrating the man getting a job as a police guard. He jumped in after me. He saved me."

Zoë attempted to wipe away her tears with her palm for all the good it did her. Thalia could feel her heart twisting.

"This story has a happy ending." She insisted to the girl.

Zoë smiled, as if she already knew the ending and was just letting Thalia believe in a happiness, when the truth would scar the world in thunderstorms.

"The girl and the boy convinced me to hang around. For a year I denied the fact I liked him. That boy. I swear, Thalia, I tried. But he gave me a place to stay. He gave me a new start."

Thalia stepped over the bodies trying not to breath in any toxins. She reached out for Zoë but she pulled away heading towards the back door.

"I always got into arguments with the girl. Every time I saw her. She knew I liked the boy, her boy, her boyfriend. We never came to an agreement. Constantly fighting. I was so jealous. She made me want to go to the stars again."

Thalia stumbled over something, an arm maybe. She felt colder. Ice cold.

"Why are you doing this?" Thalia asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

"I need someone to know!" Zoë yelled, somewhere between a sob and a scream, "I need you to know that after the bridge, after my brother came knocking, after he threatened me to come back, I need you to know after Luke stepped in front of me, and took my place, he didn't do it for me!"

"Zoë!"

"He didn't do it for me." She said again, "He never liked me back! He always loved you! Atlas told him if he didn't let me come back he'd hurt you, Damnit Grace! I'm sorry! It's my fault he ever got involved with the Monsters!"

Thalia clenched her hands into fists. She was shaking so bad her knees felt like Jell-o.

"I'm sorry, Thalia." Zoë said again. She unlatched the back door. Flung in open easily, "I only wanted to see the stars."

Thalia could see inside the dim room. A thickly built guy towering over a small frame on the ground and red blotches of blood.

Thalia didn't think. She ran forward her footsteps alerting the threatening force at the last second. She grabbed his head and threw him with adrenaline-backed power into the cement wall.

Nico coughed on the ground his entire body shaking.

Atlas growled, pulling of the ground. "What's this, Di Angelo? Your girlfriend come to save the day? I'm not done with my payback."

Thalia stood between them gun raised.

"Back off, Atlas." Thalia seethed, "Run while you still can."

"Or what, princess?" Atlas sneered, "You'll shoot me? You can't even pull that trigger. Di Angelo's a murderer! He killed his own sis-"

Thalia saw red. Like a fiery haze that blotted out rational thinking. She moved like lightning round house kicking Atlas into the wall again. She slammed her gun barrel into his forehead.

"Shut up you, stupid, pathetic, waste of air!" She shouted driving her arm across his throat pinning him to the wall, "He is not a murderer! You are! A fucking murderer!" She screamed angrily. It felt like releasing thousands of gallons of water, flooding through her veins, like lifting the world off her shoulders. She burst through memories of Luke Castellan, before and always, and the pain dispelled through her fingertips. She thought about his brilliant eyes, and his ever smiling lips, the taste of happiness that shuddered through them.

She remembered the night he came home with the scar on his face, still smiling as if it was nothing, the argument, the bitter words that came out of her mouth, the last second before the crash...

"Thalia, that's enough."

Thalia stepped back, her anger fleeing like deer. Atlas was bruised and bloodied, as were her knuckles. But Thalia didn't feel a thing. Zoë out a hand on her shoulder, her expression blank. Atlas rolled his head, sound that might have been a moaning threat escaped.

Nico leaned against the wall his body rigid and exhausted, his face was matted with sweat, his arms pale with bruises and cold.

Zoë towered over her brother and for a second it looked like she glowed. Fear flashed in Atlas's eyes painfully. Then Zoë brought down her fist and knock his head into the wall one final time.

With a sinister crack, Atlas fell unconscious.

Zoë flexed her fingers and turned towards Thalia. Thalia looked at her and said in a tight small voice, "Your story will have a happy endin-"

Sound exploded in the silence. Deafening. Like thunder. Defining.

Thalia screamed. Zoë fell against her her eyes widen as she gasped for breath. Her back exposed with red blood matching her side.

Thalia caught her. Shaking and stuttering, she fell to her knees.

Nico looked speechless towards the door.

A lone figure stood there shaking. A girl in a Monster T shirt, her long black hair styled back, and make up applied perfectly. She looked mortified.

"Selina?" Nico whispered at her.

A pistol dropped from her hand. Thalia never even heard it hit the ground. Zoë tightened her grip on Thalia's arms.

Selina bolted away.

Zoë gasped for air, tears falling down her face.

"Zoë!" Thalia cried, "Zoë!" Thalia felt like someone had dumped her head under water. Her thoughts were scattered about, a ringing in her ears, Nico somehow got next to her his battered body reminding her that he was still there.

Zoë coughed. A trail of body leaked off her stomach and onto Thalia. Red spit out of her mouth staining like cherry punch.

"Hospital." Thalia blurted, "We need to get to the hospital."

Nico nodded, He huffed his right arm close, gingerly like it was in pain. Thalia scooped the snaked girl in her arms. She couldn't die. Not like this. Zoë faced so much. She couldn't die.

She couldn't.

Thalia kept repeating it in her head.

She ran out the door, out of the warehouse, she could hear Nico behind her cursing worse than ever. She could feel Zoë's ragged breathing vibrating through her body.The red eye logo swelled with color until it looked just like a huge red dot.

"Thalia...." Zoë coughed, "I'm sorry...we argued..."

"No." Thalia said, "Don't start that. You're not dying." She shoved a couple out of the way. "You're not allowed."

Zoë choked. "...who...says...?"

"DAMNIT NIGHTSHADE! I do!" Thalia charged in front of a car almost getting hit. Nico panted by her side. A flood of emotion swamped around them.

The sky was turning pink already, the time slipping past like the cars on the road. How much time had passed? Some one slow it down!

She must have made a strange sight kicking open the doors of the hospital, Nico beside her, with tears falling down both their faces.

Hazel and Piper were in the lobby, and let out gasps of pain seeing them. Someone screamed. Orders flung about like a whirlwind of leaves.

"Blood-"

"-Lost-"

"-Broken arm-"

"-Too much-"

There was a doctor in front of her. The sky grew dark behind her the glass door catching the reflection of the moon. He shook his head.

"...Thalia..." Zoë murmured. Thalia felt the world slipping away. All the screaming and yelling fell to a dull blur. "I'll... tell...Luke...you s-said...hello..."

Thalia felt a scream curl is way up her throat. A burning sensation in her stomach. A denial that shocked her senses.

"Stars..." Zoë murmured, "I'm..going...To...the...sta-"

Her entire body shuddered, her eyes fell misty and unfocused. And Thalia let out her scream.


	22. Jason

Jason was almost disappointed when he woke up. His head throbbed, his throat parched, some random lingering taste of burnt popcorn was on his tongue. He let out a moan, stirring the one other occupant of his room.

And it wasn't Piper.

Leo dropped his half finished creation of whatever on the tile floor.

"Jason!" Leo half yawned, half yelled. He wiped sleep from his eyes, and nearly bounding over to the bed.

"Leo?" Jason croaked. He rubbed his eyes. Why was everything blurry?

"Hey!" Leo said, "You okay?"

"Just brilliant." Jason replied. And the weird thing was, it was. He honestly felt better than ever. The pain in his head dulled to just a pinching feeling. He was alive. There was something else too, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"What happened?" Jason frowned looking at Leo putting a hand on his forehead.

Leo laughed nervously, "We went to see a rather _explosive_ movie at Movie theaters. You're lucky your sister showed up and saved you. The entire building collapsed."

Jason nodded vaguely. He remembered the explosion, and the blonde girl with the boy who'd run in run before. And the creepy girl with the unnaturally sharpened teeth that slammed his head ten times too many against that stupid counter.

"Wait, Thalia?" Jason's head snapped up, "Thalia was here?"

Leo made that nervous little laugh again, "Yep." Something about his smile, something oddly forced, told Jason he wasn't telling him everything.

"Leo..." Jason said.

Leo gave him a chirpy smile. "Look, man, I probably don't have much time before either Piper or Thalia barges in here, so I need to tell you something." Leo twiddled his fingers together, his foot tapping on the floor at an irregular pace. Was he nervous? "I wanted...to say thank you."

Jason frowned, cocking his head. "What for?"

Leo took a deep breath, "Back in that fire, if you hadn't told Piper to help me, I...wouldn't be here." Leo looked down at his hands, and Jason didn't bother telling him that if he hadn't pushed Jason and Piper out of the way they all wouldn't be there. "When I was seven my mom and I would spend hours and hours in our workshop messing around, fixing things. She taught me everything I know. And...I-I...it was an accident with a couple matches. She...left them out...told me not to touch them. I didn't listen."

Leo wiped away a couple tears, his head hanging low. Jason didn't know what to say. Leo continued.

"I can't stand fire. It reminds me of her. I swear...I didn't mean to. The doors got stuck...My mom got trapped. I miss her...I can't...I wouldn't fix your car...because she taught me how." Leo fell against the bed sniffling. Jason put a hand on his shoulder, as if trying to give him strength. He barely knew Leo, in retrospect, they probably never should've even met. But Jason knew, that somethings like exploding movie theaters, you couldn't go through without becoming friends.

Leo looked up at him sniffling, his eyes cascaded with the glow from the afternoon sun in the window so his irises almost looked on fire.

"Sorry," Jason said. "I didn't know. I didn't mean to push you."

Leo smeared his tears away. "I thought...I thought you should know. Before I..." Leo trailed off suddenly, standing up. A flash of nervousness in his eyes once again.

"Before what?" Jason asked, curiously.

"Nothing." Leo said, almost too quickly. His hand closed in his pocket, probably around that Dragon Statue. What had he called it...Festus?

Jason was going to press. Something struck him hard about the way Leo was acting. His voice of words were almost like a goodbye of sorts.

But the blond boy's thoughts were diffused as the door burst open with someone he hadn't expected to see. And she was crying something fierce.

Thalia shoved past Leo, and enveloped Jason in a hug that nearly suffocated him.

She wore her ripped jeans but with a hospital provided cotton T shirt. Jason knew how much Thalia hated the color white. She'd never wear it unless something really bad happened. Her black spiky hair was in more of a mess than usual. Not to mention, she was crying into his shoulder. Jason remembered the time when she'd dropped a glass on her hand effectively cutting her entire palm and even then she hadn't even sniffled. She'd needed like ten stitches from that.

"I'm just gonna...go." Leo said. He was gone before Jason really got a chance to protest. The door shutting fitfully behind him.

"Thalia." Jason said, "I can't...breath."

She loosened herself ever so slightly.

"I'm so so sorry, Jase." She mumbled through her tears, "I'm sorry I yelled at you, I'm sorry I ignored you. I'm such a shitty sister, I'm so sorry."

"Thalia, what happened?" Jason said worriedly prying her off of him. She'd hadn't cared about them for the past year; what changed? They argued, they fought, they declared that they never wanted anything to do with each other ever again. They carried it out.

Thalia shook her head, her electric blue eyes watery with unshead tears and cheeks puffy like she'd been crying a lot lately.

"You were right about alcohol, Jase." She whimpered, "You were right about me being a pathetic, useless, Jackass. You were right about everything."

Jason tried to denied that, seeing his sister fall apart like this was disturbing. She'd watched over him since they were little. He'd planned a hundred and one ways to get back at her since that fight. But now he could feel his anger sizzling out, He could see for once in his life his sister looked....

Vulnerable.

"Thals." Jason opened up and she fell into his arms crying.

"I sorry, I couldn't...I couldn't imagine...what I'd do if you'd died..." She sobbed, "I'd never get a chance to tell you...I'd never apologize."

"I shouldn't have gotten angry." Jason replied, "I didn't know how much he meant to you. I shouldn't have gotten in the middle."

She rubbed her head into him. "This week's been a total disaster." Her muffled voice caused him to snort.

"Yeah." Jason agreed, "That's the understatement of the year."

"I hate this." She mumbled.

"What?" Jason asked, "This life? This year? This-"

"Shirt." Thalia cried, "I hate this stupid shirt."

A new round of fresh tears started and Jason awkwardly patted her back. Jason wasn't sure what to say anymore. His shirt was covered in tears and his eyesight was still blurry. He could feel a huge headache about to come.

"What happened?" Jason pulled her back to look into her eyes, her broken dull blue eyes. "What really happened?"

The suckiest thing about the entire story was that Jason couldn't have done anything. Thalia told him everything. About that night at the party, waking up at the hospital (Jason made a mental note to thank Nico when he saw him), running, then the nights at Nico's house, the phone call from his mom (He still wasn't sure about that) and the explosion that sent both Nico and her sprinting towards the theater. She teared up at the part where she charged into the fire to save him.

Jason found himself holding her tighter as the story went on. As soon as she said Zoë Nightshade, He got a sinking feeling. He could tell how it was going to end.

His headache burned in his skull and Jason rubbed his temples.

"She...Zoë...made me realize that...I've been so stupid." Thalia said after a couple minutes of silence. She'd found a way to dry her tears, though her voice still echoed with a bitter sob. Most of all She just looked numb. "Every second I've spent being angry, drinking, blaming everyone else and pushing them away...I forgot how easy it is just to die. Too soon, too late, goodbye. No one would ever know the thoughts in my head. How I felt. Hell, Jason, I don't know what I'd do..."

She trailed off, closing her eyes tight as if stopping another round of tears. Jason could feel the meaning of her words, something only siblings could do.

"What happened to the girl who shot her? Selina?" He asked.

Thalia shrugged miserably, "A report came in this morning, of a girl matching Selina's description jumping off a bridge. They found a recording in her pocket, but the water damaged it pretty bad. The police say most of it was about her and a guy named Beckford trying to leave the city because of the Monsters, but the Monsters got a hold of Beckford and killed him. The rest apparently was a garbled mess, but I guess they forced her back to town and had her work for them."

"And the Monsters?" Jason asked, "What happened to the head guy?"

Thalia let out a snorted and started to get up. "You're going to love this," she said without humor, "The guy, Percy, who Piper and them saved, and Nico both insisted there were co leaders. One was Kronos, the chief police, which is why the Monsters never got caught, and why that bastard could easily take Luke's uniform without suspicion."

Anger radiated of her in waves, along with a sadness.

"But why would he need that uniform? Who was the other co leader?"

Thalia looked at him, "Krios."

Jason was dumbstruck. "Krios? The owner of the dinner? That son of a bitch!"

"Yeah well, while Kronos covered the retreating Monsters, and we were otherwise preoccupied with not dying, Krios was using Luke's uniform to "arrest" Nico. I swear if they ever catch those two, I'm going to make their lives Hell, just like they did to mine."

"Wait they haven't caught them, yet?"

Thalia twisted her hair, blowing a blue highlight out of her face. "No. They took off before they could catch them."

Jason leaned back shaking his head. He eyed his sister, wondering how they were both still alive. Thalia must have noticed because for a second her saddened features perked up and she grinned softly.

"Careful, Jase." She warned playfully, "Piper might think you're checking me out and that we're dating, again."

"What?"

She smiled, "Nothing, nothing."

"Speaking of Piper," Jason mumbled, "where is she?"

Thalia looked in a cross between laughing, making fun of him, and crying. But she put forth a brave face and forced a smile over her puffy eyes.

"She's experiencing...I think Leo called it "technical difficulties" right now."

"Technical difficulties?"

"Yeah," Thalia nodded as if agreeing with herself, "Just some family problems."

"So she'll be here soon?" Jason asked hopefully, Thalia smiled as if sharing a secret with him.

"Not a chance." She laughed, "Not a chance at all. Come on, I'll grab your clothes after you shower and you can see for yourself."

"After I shower..." Jason looked at her confused, "How long was I out?"

Thalia paused halfway out the door, and looked back at him, "Just three days, bro. It's Wednesday. Tomorrow's Christmas Eve."

***

When Jason got out of he shower, He felt a lot better. His headache was still there, though and he was still squinting to see the opposite of the room, but he felt relaxed and his stiff body was slowly becoming aware again.

He felt refreshed.

Thalia wasn't there when he walked out of the bathroom, but his clothes were there and his phone. He changed quickly and dried off his hair with a towel. Then he took a deep breath and unlocks his phone.

Forty-Seven was the lucky number. Forty-Seven missed called from just about everyone. Katie Gardener demanding where he was, Dakota begging him to to pick up a shift, Gwen complaining about working his nights, His mother telling him she couldn't find the money box. A couple miscellaneous things like a call back from the new job he applied for last week that he didn't get, or from the landlord warning him their two weeks were almost up.

Then he saw a number that was making him more queasy than usual.

_"Hey, I heard you dropped off the radar. Listen about us being friends...I'm sorry. I was just seriously angry. I know you're stressed and busy especially this time_ _of_ _year. I...hope you're okay. Please don't do anything stupid, Okay?...Just so you know that wasn't a choice, that's a command. Call me back when you get this._

_"I'm free Monday, if you want to meet up at the Bowling Alley...."_ She trailed off, like a desperate hope wandering in her voice, _"Bye, Jason."_

It was followed with a click, signaling the end of all his voice messages. Jason lowered his phone starting at the screen. The ten digit number blinked above Reyna's picture.

Jason hit the end call button. But it felt like a little more than that. More like ending a relationship than a phone call. He thought about Piper, the perky, beautiful girl, who he'd just met, and yet managed to make all the hours he spent not working a blast...in more ways than one.

Reyna had never been able to do that.

Jason left the phone on his bed and migrated towards the door. He pulled in open and stepped into the hall. It was quiet for the most part like a library. Directly across were wide spread windows catching the last wisps of the afternoon light. Signs were all over the place and he scanned them all looking for the lobby.

Turns out he didn't need to, as the shouting led him straight there. Jason was lucky enough to have a ground floor room amazingly and he only passed a couple doctors coming in and out of the rooms.

He pushed open the lobby for slightly glancing in.

Everyone was watching the middle were a familiar choppy haired teenager and an old cranky business lady were telling at each other. Next to the cranky business lady were two really big guys who looked like part of the presidents secret service, but nervously fidgeting like they weren't sure what to do.

But what really caught Jason's attention was the paparazzi. It was bigger than the mob of Monsters. A herd of vicious flashing, and yells and screams of people outside the doors and every window trying to come in. Two doctors were holding them at bay yelling over the complaints that they needed to disperse. None seemed to be paying attention to them though.

"I AM NOT GOING BACK!" Piper yelled stomping her foot, like a four year old throwing a tantrum. Jason didn't know how she managed to make even that look flawless and prefect.

The business lady was turning an ugly red color, her strict voice coming out frustrated. "Your father demands you come home at once Ms. Mc-"

"IM NOT LEAVING JANE!" Piper insisted swinging around with a passionate fury, "If my dad wants me home, prove it! HAVE HIM COME GET ME INSTEAD!"

"Ms. McLean!"

Jason was shocked. McLean? Like Tristan McLean's daughter? No wonder there were so many cameras. He was even more shocked when he realized that he'd fallen head over heels with a movie stars daughter. He could still feel a faint tingle in his lips from their death-defying kiss.

Piper glared somehow ignoring the binging flashes of cameras through the door. Jason could see Hazel and Frank sitting in the lobby chairs looking utterly shocked and perplexed.

"If my dad cares," Piper said in a dangerously low voice, "He can come get me himself, instead of neglecting me like he's been doing for my entire life."

Jane huffed, and snapped her fingers. The secrets service agents straighten like soldiers getting orders. They turned and left on either side of Jane, like an escort. They pushed open the doors of the hospital and the crowd surged towards them like hungry sharks. They disappeared beneath the sea of reporters, much like victims of a shark attack, too.

Piper sighed miserably collapsing into the nearest chair, like she couldn't barely to stand up a second longer.

The lobby was silent, Hazel caught Jason's eye, with a spark of relief and worry. She looked distraught at Piper's words, basically being told her favorite actor, the guy she adored, wasn't as prefect as he was advertised. Frank looked like he wanted to comfort Piper but was too scared to.

Jason walked over to her, sitting next to her, and visually sliding an arm around her shoulder. Piper shot to attention, A gleam of fury that exploded as if she thought he was a threat. Then she gasped and flung on top of him in a hug.

"Jason!" She gasped, choking on a laugh, "You-! You're up! Awake!"

"Hey Pipes!" He laughed.

She laughed. Her whole personality brightened up. A genuine smile, and cascading laugh, A happy aura flowed off her.

Then it snapped back to what it was before, fading as fast as it had come.

"You just heard so that." She whispered brokenly. She started to get up, pulling away the warmth that Jason felt around her. At the last second Jason grabbed her hand.

"Piper?" He asked, "Where are you going?"

Piper looked away, "Sorry, Jason." She mumbled, "I should've warned you about all this," She motioned to the flash cameras that clinked against the windows disturbingly close. "I know you probably don't want to be...you know..."

Jason checked to see if she was serious. She was. A rumble started in his throat, and it grew, until he couldn't contain it any longer. Jason threw his head back and laughed.

"Are you kidding?" He chuckled and tugged her hand back towards him. She squealed with surprise and lost balance, falling straight into Jason's lap. "Piper, going out with you would literally be a dream come true."

"How can you say that?" She whispered, "I'm...me. My own father wouldn't give me a moment. Why should you-"

Jason leaned in so they were only inches apart. Almost magnetically, He didn't even try to stop himself.

The second their lips touched it was like electricity coursed through him. Every nerve stood on end, every sense told him this was right. This was how he was suppose to be. This was perfect.

Like a dream.

The very best type of dream.

Jason wrapped his arms around Piper. She melted into him. And Jason was sure, beyond all rational reason, that he would never let her go.

"I don't care about your dad, Pipes." Jason whispered when they broke apart, "I could never ignore you."


	23. Piper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the last Chapter before the Epilogue, my wonderful readers! Please feel free to cry if you want.

It was all Percy's idea. And maybe a little of Annabeth's. Actually it was probably mostly Annabeth's.

But who knows? Piper certainly didn't. She walked hand in hand with Jason, A feeling of completeness washing over her. Is this what love felt like?

She guessed it depended on the person. She waved to Hazel and Frank who were talking in the hallway of the Hospital, but they didn't see her. Mainly because at that same moment Hazel got on her tippy-toes and kissed Frank right on the lips.

Piper internal cooed. Jason looked down at her squeezing her hand with a smile.

They also passed Annabeth and Percy, who'd been wheelchair confined, since he got shot. It wasn't for long, just until his lungs and assorted injures healed.

Piper eyed him warily as they approached, thinking back to when they first brought him in. Will, the volunteer doctor, told her he was beat up a lot worse than it looked. He said they weren't quite sure all if the injures were from the Monsters, some looked older, almost like he'd been used as someone's punching bag for a while.

Percy laughed at something Annabeth did, causing him to rasp slightly. Annabeth frowned worriedly but Percy didn't seem to notice.

"What was that, Wise Girl?" Percy asked, "That motion looked like seaweed. Are you calling me a Seaweed Brain?"

Annabeth frowned and tried to look angry but she smiled instead. And rolled her eyes. Then she saw them and waved happily.

Percy followed her gaze and smiled widely, the bruise on his cheek already faded mostly. "Hey! Piper! And...Jason right?"

"Right." Jason nodded.

"You guys coming to our thingy tonight?" Percy asked anxiously. Behind him Annabeth leaned on the wheelchair handlebars and rolled her eyes.

Piper could guys her thoughts were along the lines of _T_ _hingy? Really Percy? You_ are _a Seaweed Brain._

"We wouldn't miss it for the world." Piper answered.

"Good!" Percy said, "Frank and Hazel said they'd be there too. And we talked to Nico who'd said he'd talk to Thalia." He frowned suddenly, "I haven't seen Leo though. Have you?"

Piper looked at Jason who shrugged identically to her, "We were just about to go see him. His room is upstairs."

"Oh okay," Percy grinned again, as if he wasn't feeling all of his injures at once, "Make sure you invite him! It'll be all night basically. Until, You know, we get kicked out."

Annabeth slapped the top off his head lightly putting on a scolding mother look. Percy laughed.

They waved goodbye and continued heading towards the elevator that would take them to the second floor.

"They are such a cute couple." Piper commented.

Jason just smiled, "Yeah. They are." When they got inside the elevator Jason spun her around with a twist of his wrist. Piper giggled at the whoosh of air behind landing fitfully into his awaiting arms.

Piper lost track of time staring into his sharp sky blue eyes. It was like staring into the sky itself on a perfect sunny day when the wind rustled her hair just enough to keep it from her face and the laughter accompanied most of the conversation.

Piper couldn't believe how lucky she was. Jason Grace was perfect. And he was hers. She could feel another pull in her shoulders, an urge in her mind that magnetically attracted her to him. She didn't even try to stop herself. And even If she had she doubted it would've worked for long.

_"Ahem!"_

Piper straightened, pulling away from Jason, at the sound of another voice awkwardly coughing. Piper felt her face flush as Will stepped into the elevator and the doors closed behind him. His beach blond hair was windswept like he'd just run but he wasn't even panting. The tape over his nose was gone and he looked fairly back to normal, or at least what Piper assumed was normal.

"Oh, don't mind me." Will said throwing his hands out, "Please, just continue making out in the Hospital's elevator."

If possible Piper turned a shade redder. "Sorry, Will." She mumbled.

Will nodded apprehensively. His eyes flickering over her once lingering slightly. Jason noticed this with a glare and wrapping his arms protectively around her.

"Hey, whoa big guy!" Will nervously backed a step away. "Not going to take your girl, I've got my own waiting at home for me to take her out for ice cream."

Jason seemed to relax a little. Which made a warmth blossom in her again. Aww! He was protecting her! Not that she needed protection or anything.

"What's her name?" Piper found herself asking.

"Nyssa." Will said with a dreamy sigh. "She wanted to show me a new contraption she was building. I love her."

Piper smiled.

The elevator dinged, signaling that it reached the next floor, and the doors started to roll open.

"Hey, if you see Annabeth, the blond girl, could you tell her I said sorry?" Will asked, "I'm afraid if I try to apologize she'll break my nose again."

He was gone before Piper could reply. Dashing down the hallway like he was afraid she'd ask why. She looked up at Jason who shrugged.

"What room was Leo again?" He asked leading the way into the white tile hall.

"I think it was 214."

"You think?"

Piper blushed with uncertainty. "I'm not entirely sure, it could be 241 also."

Jason smirked playfully nudging her, "What if you're wrong?"

"Then we walk in on some old, hospital bound, sick guy." Piper was relieved to hear Jason's laughter bounce down the hallway.

"Ok, Pipes," He chuckled "Let's go."

They walked down the halls every so often shooting each other silly face just to get a giggle from each other. They manages to make it to Leo's room, and Jason sent her a smirk before rapping on the door. Piper rolled her eyes and the open the door before he'd finish.

Luckily, that was Leo's room. The Latino Elf looked startled by them shoving something in his hands out of their view.

"Gods, guys!" He yelped, "Ever heard of privacy?"

"Hey, I knocked." Jason said. Both of the boys looked at Piper who shrugged.

"We're all friends here right, Repair Boy?" She said with a smile.

Leo scoffed, "I am not a repair boy! I'm a mechanic. There's a difference!"

"Yep, ones scrawny, and the other's good looking." Piper joked.

"Totally, I'm bad boy supreme. I'm so good looking, I got all the girls." He slicked back his brown curls with his signature mischievous grin, that made even Jason laugh.

"Sorry, Leo," Piper sighed, leaning into her boyfriend, "I'm taken."

Leo didn't look convinced. "All the girls are on Team Leo."

They talked for a couple minutes, and Leo seemed happier than usual, making more jokes. Piper was surprised at how funny he was. Sure she'd only just met him, but at school, Leo was mostly to himself. As far as she knew, Leo didn't have any friends, something Piper wouldn't mind changing.

She was sure Jason would agree, too.

"I'm getting hungry," Jason said suddenly, "We should probably go and get ready."

"Ready for what?" Leo asked cocked his head.

Piper face palmed, "I can't believe We forgot!" She laughed at herself, "You know how tonight's Christmas Eve? Yeah well, Percy and Annabeth were thinking about throwing a little party. It'll just be the Nine of us."

"Oh." Leo's voice got small, uncomfortable even.

"You'll be there, right?" Jason asked, "There'll be soda, and cookies, and I think Frank got his hands on some eggnog. Just to celebrate being alive this week."

Leo nodded, "Yea, sure, totally!" Piper thought she heard something foreign in his grin. Leo cleared his throat, "What time?"

"7:00." Piper said, "Don't be late, okay?"

"Okay."

Jason eyed him suspiciously, "You aren't lying, right?" He asked, "We're past that, right?"

Leo put on a trouble maker smile, "Geez, guys!" He laughed, "I'll be there, alright? Where's that little bit of faith in friends?"

Piper was still frowning. She didn't bother telling him faith in friends implied that he wasn't going to lie straight to her face again. Jason, however, smiled, like the world was back in balance again.

"Great!" Jason said happily turning towards the door, "See you-oophm!"

Piper yelled in surprise as Jason slammed into the door frame and hit the ground heavily. "Jason!" She said a mixture of worried and laughter in her voice.

"Jase!" Leo yelled jumping over to them sparatically, "Are you okay? Are you in pain? Can you get up? Do you need Life Alert?!"

"I'm fine!" Jason said shaking his head, "I'm fine!"

Piper rolled her eyes and after another round of goodbyes, and a couple opening door jokes, courtesy of Leo, to which Jason was not amused, They actually left Leo's room.

Piper turned back just as the door was clicking shut, catching one last glance Leo's smiling face. One that seemed far too happy. Almost like a facade. As if he was creating a memory for them to remember him by instead of being himself. An icy feeling breathed down her neck, like a foreshadowing that she would never see him again.

But Piper shook it off and focused all her attention on Jason.

If only she hadn't brushed it off.

***

10:00 rolled around and Piper was getting irritated. She told herself he would be there. Even Jason told her to relax. Have faith in their friend.

Yeah, right.

She had to hand it to Percy. He knew how to throw a party. Somewhat, even if he was wheelchair confined. Music played through loud speakers, like retro Christmas Music. Soda galore was stacked on a table next to enough sweets to make Piper sick just looking at them. Thalia hijacked Percy's music player, and was constantly changing the songs. Frank and Annabeth were talking and laughing, mostly in rapid fire sign language. Percy, Nico, Jason, Hazel and, her occasionally were playing Heads-Up, which was basically a bunch of yelling and laughing and slapping and tossing Piper's phone around.

"It's small!" Jason yelled,

"At McDonald's!" Nico added.

"It's made of chicken!" Percy yelled.

Nico slapped Percy, "Dude! Chicken's in the name!"

"Uhhh...?" Hazel panicked. Piper laughed as the last of her time ticked out. Percy shoved Nico back laughing.

"What was it?" Hazel asked flipping the screen of Piper's phone around. "WHAT THE HECK IS A CHICKEN MCNUGGET?!"

Frank laughed and Annabeth clutched her sides as they walked over.

"You don't know what a Chicken Mcnugget is?" Piper giggled,

Hazel turned a sight pink, "No?" She wouldn't look Piper in the eyes, she would barely actually look at Piper at all. It kinda irked her too. Was there something wrong with the way she looked?

Thalia blasted some loud music, something that totally wasn't Christmas related.

"Hazel," Piper asked, "Is something wrong?"

That got Frank's attention who turned towards her mid conversation with Annabeth. Like a chain reaction everyone was staring at her, and Piper silently wished she just pulled the tiny girl away before asking.

Hazel looked like a deer caught in headlights. Her golden eyes unusually wide and her smile slipping off her face as if it was made of water. "I uh..."

"Hazel?" Nico asked worriedly, free from the mini fight he was having with Percy. Hazel started shaking slightly

"Does your dad really neglect you?" She suddenly cried out. Covering her mouth like she really hadn't want that to come out. She inched away like she thought Piper was going to lash out at her.

Piper's hand shook, rocking her glass of Pepsi. She was the daughter of a famous movie star, whose life had been one camera after another, one fake smile after another, and yet never once had she been camera shy. Why was this suddenly different? These were her friends.

"Pipes?" Jason whispered, though he sounded a bit on the fence about it. He already knew about it, he already told her he didn't care about her dad.

Piper looked down at her drink the fizzing soda reflecting the faces of everyone around her, though if she concentrated the pictures almost looked like her dad.

"Yes." Piper said, she set the cup aside. Thalia frowned switching off the music altogether. She could still feel everyone's eyes on her.

Then something entirely unexpected happened.

Percy laughed. It was short and anything but humorous but it shifted everyone's attention to him.

"What I wouldn't give to have your life." He said. He leaned back in his wheelchair, taking a deep breath, which was the first sign he'd shown all day that he might have been in serve pain.

"Oh please." Percy breathed heavily, "Don't give me those looks. If my step dad just ignored me, my life would be perfect."

The rest of them shared a look. Annabeth lightly pressed hand against his forehead, warily pulling back like it was extremely hot.

"Percy," Frank ventured, "What do you mean?"

Percy gave a short laugh, "You haven't guessed already?" He lazily motioned to his cheek and his faded bruise, "My step dad abuses me."

Piper had already been suspecting it. But to hear him say it it was on a whole other level. It was like getting hitting by lightning. Shocking. For everyone.

"I had you all fooled, didn't I?" Percy murmured. "Such a brilliant actor, No one even knew..."

The depressing silence that followed broke surprisingly by Thalia.

"I'm an alcoholic." She said. "A depressed Alcoholic."

"I never said goodbye to my mom." Frank whispered. "Never even looked up."

"I'm bullied," Hazel said a look of broken glass in her eyes, "I've got no one to turn to."

"Everyone says I pushed Bianca. I didn't." Nico shook his head, "I didn't."

Annabeth motioned with her hands a tear falling down her cheek.

"You're mute, and your family hates you." Frank translated.

The air was silent Jason sighed and put his head in his hands, "I've been over worked. Underpaid." He mumbled, "I'm getting kicked out of my apartment on Tuesday."

They sat in silence. Piper looked at her friends, these people she barely knew and yet couldn't help but connect with. They held pain, like the weight of the world on their shoulders. Piper glanced at each face, then she asked a question that was on everyone's mind.

"Why didn't we say anything?" She asked, "Why were we silent?"

Jason shrugged, Annabeth looked away, Hazel seemed to find her shoes very interesting.

"Well you know what they say," Percy gave a short laugh, "Silence is Golden."

***

"Piper you okay?" Jason asked after a while. Piper glanced at the clock on the wall, a little past eleven. Her eyes wanted towards the double doors as if Leo would magically appear laughing and saying sorry he was late.

"I...I don't know." She said honestly. "It's Christmas Eve, I'm spending it with my boyfriend and my new best friends, celebrating with soda and sugar, but...Leo's not here."

Jason frowned, "He probably just fell asleep in his room." He sounded like he was just trying to believe it too. "Why don't we go wake him?"

Piper nodded and they quietly left the cafeteria. Only Hazel looked up with a frown from the game they were playing, and watched them go, thoughtfully. As the doors closed behind them Thalia and Percy let out yell of victory as if they were winning something.

Piper wrapped her hand in Jason's. In the dull moonlit halls the only real sound were their footsteps. The light emphasized Jason's features, making the bags under his eyes look deeper and his eyes a little more tired.

"Are _you_ okay?" Piper asked.

Jason sighed, "it's...just something Leo said. He told me about his mom. And after he said something...He hinted that he was saying goodbye. More than just a see you later. and the more I think about it..."

"Saying goodbye?" Piper asked, "Like leaving? Why would he leave? _How_ would he leave?"

"He told me he didn't feel comfortable here when...I...asked...about..." Jason shared a look with her, and Suddenly Piper knew what he meant.

"The Train Ticket." She said. "He got the train ticket..."

They didn't waste another second. They both changed directions and bolted towards the parking lot.

***

Percy looked around as Frank stifled a yawn. It was late, they probably should start to head to their rooms. They'd finished their games of Uno a little over half an hour ago and had started to dissipate in different directions. Thalia was leaning against Nico, drinking soda like she wished it was something else. Nico was fingering something in his hands, it looked like a candy bar. A Milky Way, maybe.

Hazel was sitting in one of the chairs her head bobbing along to the music Thalia had turned back on a couple minutes ago. Frank sat down next to her. Neither of them said anything but Frank ever so causally wrapped an arm around her.

Piper and Jason had disappeared, and that Leo guy never showed up. It seemed like everything was winding down now.

Annabeth pulled a chair of to Percy and sat down. Percy put his hand in his pocket surprised to find something in it. Percy pulled out a small thin white business card. For a second he just stared at it. The little numbers playing with his head.

Annabeth glanced between him and the card then, she pulled something from her pocket. She placed a gray flip phone in his lap.

Percy looked at her then he picked up the phone and pressed the numbers in order. He paused right before hitting call to look at Annabeth. She nodded.

It rang for a second but was picked up almost immediately, with a familiar voice, "Hello?"

The first word got stuck in his throat but after that everything just came out like a flood.

"Hey...Grover Underwood? This is Percy Jackson. You might not remember me from Wal-Mart..."

***

"LEO!" Piper yelled, "WAIT!"

She and Jason ran onto the station platform, ignoring the guards and the weird looks from the other passengers. Leo paused walking onto the train and confused.

The dark sky cared shadows in the places the artificial light didn't reach.

Leo's face went from confused to slightly horrified to defeated.

"You weren't suppose to be here." He said, readjusting the shoulder strap of his backpack that he got who knows how. "You weren't suppose to know until morning!"

"Leo you can't go!" Piper said, "You can't!"

"Piper, you don't understand." Leo shook his head, "You might never."

"But you have a place now!" Jason insisted, "With us! Your friends. "

Leo chuckled sadly, "You guys were the best friends I've ever had."

Piper choked back a sob. He couldn't... he wouldn't...She refused to let him. Before he could leave Piper threw her arms around him. A forceful hug.

"Have." Piper corrected, "Best friends you'll ever have. Because we will see you again, Valdez. Whether you like it or not."

Leo seemed like he might've actually been reconsidering leaving. Jason lightly pulled her away, giving Leo space to breath, which of course he filled with a watery laugh.

"You two are a happy couple. Don't let me and my awesomeness get in the way." He tried for a grin but it wouldn't come. Jason wrapped his arms around Piper, in a hug. Only later did she realize that he was actually holding her back in car she tried to stop Leo.

"Bye, Leo." Jason nodded at him, an understanding passing between them.

"Bye, Grace." Leo smirked, "and you, too McLean." He stepped into the train heading into the metal car. The trains whistle bellowed in the night, signaling the train about to leave. Piper brushed away her tears, leaving long tear trails she could worry about later.

"We'll see you again!" Piper yelled at him.

She had trouble making herself believe it at first. But she repeated it in her head, chanting it like the catchy lines of her favorite song. She could her Jason also chanting it under his breath. The Train started to pull away, Leo disappeared completely from their nighttime view. In the far distance some clock struck midnight.

And they stood there together, waving until the whole train disappeared in the darkness.


	24. Epilogue

Christmas was different this year. No one really knew how or why, but they knew was different. And it started at two in the morning when Percy started crying.

His mom woke up.

The next day, Jason got promoted to manger of the dinner, after both Katie and Dakota refused it. He inherited a huge sum of money from the position that left him crying. Jason also found out because of the incident with the Monster at the movie theater he needed glasses. Nico didn't hesitate to snicker at him.

Two days after that Piper got the surprise of her life. She was headed out the door at eight to hang with Jason but stopped seeing a small present with her name on it at her seat at the table, tagged from her dad. It was the beautiful necklace she'd wanted for months but never really had time to go buy it. Like always she stopped by the Secretary, (Jane had been fired under mysterious circumstances and someone new took her place. Mellie or something like that) and said thank you but the new girl claimed to have no idea of its existence.

Next, Annabeth got a call from the hospital telling her the new surgery that could fix her vocals was out with a 98% success rate and she one of the firsts on the list.

On Saturday, Frank and Hazel made plans. They met at Frank's house and Frank led her up to his room. She sat carefully on his bed as he opened a locked draw of his desk. He pulled out a gold and red wrapped present, that was tagged with cursive scrawl too neat for either one of them to have written. Frank glanced at Hazel, who nodded her support. Frank tore open his year old present.

On Sunday, Nico walked down stairs to see Hazel making Sunday French toast just like Bianca use to. He couldn't quite process it at first, but he made a decision right then. He turned and ran back up the stairs. Hazel worriedly followed him, only to find him digging something from the bottom of his closet. He pulled out a huge box covered in mythical monsters, he looked up at her and opened it to reveal three hundred, thin playing cards. Apparently he hadn't burned them. Then Nico said seven words that had her discard the rest of her day immediately, "I wanna teach you how to play."

On Tuesday, Thalia and Nico hung out at the park. They didn't really talk until the end though when Nico offered her a Milky Way. "In remembrance of Zoë, and her path to the stars." He said. What she didn't know, but soon found out, was he had had the candy bar specially wrapped with a friendship ring inside.

Gabe got arrested for child abuse.

Helen got taken to court for hitting Annabeth.

Reyna ran into a hot guy at the Bowling Alley, named Aether, and she ended up having the time of her life without Jason.

Will took Nyssa out for ice cream like he promised.

Chris survived his burns from the explosion thanks to Clarisse.

Krios and Kronos were caught halfway across the country in a stolen car.

Zoë really did tell Luke that Thalia said hello.

But one of the strangest things that happened that Christmas season was the package that was found on the library front desk that only nine people would ever really, truly understand.

It was a beautifully carved set of Dragon book ends. One side was the head a terrifying, tangible, piece of art that even the woodshop teacher claimed he couldn't create. The other side was the tail inscribed with the strange name Festus. The librarians were confused as to why someone named it "Happy". Who would name a Dragon, "Happy"?

The only clue to the creator was a small note carved in the wood work and emphasized with black Sharpie.

The biggest mystery Leo Valdez left behind. How had he known? He hadn't even been there during the conversation.

But none the less, his scrawl neatly printed his wisest words:

_Silence is NOT Golden_   
_~The Runaway_


	25. Epilogue 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did you really think I was going to end it there? With out another mention of our favorite runaway?
> 
> Silly readers, I'm not that evil.

Leo stared out the window as the train station disappeared from view. He hastily wiped a couple tears from his eyes.

"I'll see them again." Leo promised himself, "I'll see them again."

He walked down the hall of the train searching for his seat number. The movement of the train almost gave him motion sickness. Finally he found it, but it was on the other side of a girl in a white dress reading a book.

"Hey excuse me, my seats on the other side of you." Leo said.

She glanced up looking at him with dazzling almond eyes that contrasted her caramel braid, and sighed. "Whatever."

She moved out of the way for Leo with a distasteful frown.

"Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine." Leo commented, sitting down.

"You smell like a Repair Boy."

Leo smiled.

**~FIN~**


End file.
